September 1, 2017
Gr 9 Up-Natalie has returned to her hometown in Maine to help her aunt in the local cafe. She also has other motives for coming back-to explore the mystery behind a series of nightmares she has had since leaving because of a tragic incident. With the help of her cousin Todd, Natalie sets out to the eerie house that stands at 25 Morning Glory Lane; the one in her nightmares. What they discover through their daily trips to the house is shocking and Natalie is sucked into the past, bearing witness to another tragedy. French has crafted a story that will grab readers' attention from the beginning. Teens will be continually drawn into the intrigue through chapters that present alternating time lines. Readers will feel connected to Natalie and her plight of past, present, and future, and though there are supernatural elements to the story, the emotions and feelings are all too real. VERDICT A provocative mystery that would be a strong purchase for libraries' supernatural/mystery collections.-Caitlin Wilson, Meadowdale Library, North Chesterfield, VA
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 15, 2017
Natalie has returned to her small, mostly white Maine town for the summer, primarily to figure out why she's having vivid nightmares about a derelict house.While there she's less interested in making peace with the three bullies who assaulted her and her brainy cousin, Teddy, with a gun a couple of years previously--an event that ended with the shooting death of a fourth miscreant, Peter. In her dreams, the house is icy cold. During visits to the house with ever intrepid Teddy, she's transported back in time to 1948, when an evil resident of the house is just beginning a career as a serial murderer. As disquieting as those surreal experiences are--since she can only observe and not intervene to save the three victims--the present is also disturbing. She repeatedly encounters her former attackers: Lowell, who seems reformed and is becoming increasingly attractive to Natalie, and the intimidating pair of scarily out-of-control Jason and unstable Grace, who is devoted to, or perhaps controlled by, him. French neatly manages the complications of three intertwined storylines: Natalie's emerging peril in the present, the terrifyingly depicted past inhabited by the three well-realized victims, and the third thread of what actually happened on the day Peter died. Chilling and suspenseful, this paranormal thriller with a touch of romance will keep readers on the edges of their seats. (Paranormal thriller. 12-18)
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