Small Angels

With a flair for dramatic atmospherics, Owen (The Quick) offers a creepy, richly detailed, but slow-moving tale of the paranormal encroaching on a contemporary small town. Chloe and Sam are getting married in Sam’s hometown, a tiny British village home to the even tinier Small Angels chapel and the eerie Mockbeggar woods. Kate, Sam’s sister, is loath to return for the wedding to the site of the worst tragedies of her past. Local legends abound about both the woods and the strange Gonnes family, who live on a farm at the treeline. Kate, who befriended the four Gonnes daughters as a teen—and fell in love with Lucia, the youngest and most otherworldly—knows the legends to be all too true. As the wedding draws closer and the darkness from the woods seeps into everyone’s souls, Kate must appease the spirits in the woods and make peace with her past. Kate’s role in this world feels murky for too long before her purpose snaps into place, making for a slow start, and though each of the individual threads is well crafted, Owen doesn’t manage to braid them all together. Still, the characters engage and provoke readers in the best of ways. Fans of small-town horror should check this out. Agent: David Forrer, InkWell Management. (Aug.)