First published 2025
Twenty years ago, Talitha Velkwood escaped the night everyone in her suburban town transformed into ghosts. Her mother and eight-year-old sister vanished along with the rest. Only three children survived: Talitha, her former best friend Brett, and Grace. Now the Velkwood Vicinity sits behind an impenetrable barrier that only the three survivors can cross. Talitha has spent two decades drifting between jobs, unable to settle anywhere or with anyone. When a researcher offers to pay her to return and enter the vicinity, she agrees for the money. Of all the occult theorists, tabloid documentaries, and investigations over the years, no one has explained what happened that night. Only one survivor has entered the vicinity in twenty years. Talitha must decide whether this trip will finally provide answers or become another dead end. The three women face a choice: confront their past or remain trapped by it forever.
Genres: mystery, horror, supernatural, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: chosen-one, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Velkwood Vicinity
Period: Twenty Years Ago
256 pages · Paperback · S&S/Saga Press
Content warnings: death