First published 2024
Mara drifts through her twenties without direction until her cousin offers her work on Haunt Sweet Home, a reality show that combines ghost hunting with home renovation. She takes the night shift as a production assistant, quickly learning that her job involves elaborate deception. Mara plants fog machines in dark woods and stages frightening encounters to terrify the homeowners featured on each episode. The work demands she embrace dishonesty as part of the job description. Strange events begin occurring on set that feel different from the manufactured scares. A disturbing new crew member arrives, adding to the unsettling atmosphere. These incidents force Mara to examine her own life and realize she has been lying to herself about who she is and what she wants. The staged frights become secondary to her internal struggle as she navigates the transition into genuine adulthood.
Genres: mystery, fantasy, horror, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family, unreliable-narrator
165 pages · Hardcover · Tordotcom