This Is Where We Die

At the start of this cutting thriller from He (Perfect Little Monsters), eight friends on a skiing trip become trapped in a shelter following an avalanche. Eighteen months later, the six survivors—Ant, Charlie, Emily, Isla, Sadie, and Will—eagerly await their high school graduation. Not only does it herald an era of transition, but they hope it will finally free them from the traumatic memories of the incident. When they learn that a private island south of Martha’s Vineyard is available for rent, they plan to throw an epic party as a last hurrah. Though they invite their whole class, the friends arrive a day early, each with their own goals for the weekend: Ant and Will contemplate potential hookups, Emily determines to confess her feelings for Ant, and Charlie schemes to force confessions about what happened on their ski trip for blackmail material. But after one of them suddenly dies, the group’s members begins to turn on one another. Themes of revenge, heightened by passionate emotion and complex relationship dynamics, contribute to the novel’s mounting tension and the mostly white-cued characters’ increasing paranoia, while a secluded island setting enhances the claustrophobic atmosphere. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (July)