by Carrie Arcos
First published 2020
The year is 1952, and Soviet invasion fears grip America. High school students Teddy, John, Caroline, Eleanor, Bunny, Frank, and Oscar join Operation Skywatch, a civilian radar program scanning the skies for enemy aircraft. They watch for Soviet planes but spot something else entirely: a strange green light unlike anything in their training manuals. When the mysterious object crashes into the nearby forest, Teddy, John, Caroline, and Bunny decide to investigate on their own. They venture into the woods to find answers about what they witnessed. Then the four teenagers disappear without a trace. Their vanishing becomes entangled with Cold War paranoia and the emerging UFO phenomenon that captivated America in the early 1950s. The remaining club members must grapple with their friends' fate while uncovering connections between government secrecy, unexplained aerial phenomena, and the mystery of what really happened in those dark woods.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery, alternate-history
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: disappearance, investigation, mystery, paranormal
Setting: America, Forest, Soviet Union
Period: 1952
368 pages · Hardcover · Philomel Books