The Seeker

Chesterton (a pen name of Carolyn Haines) follows 2013’s The Darkling with an inventive if slightly muddled paranormal thriller. Literature grad student Aine Cahill receives a journal chronicling an affair between Bonnie Cahill, an ancestor of Aine’s, and Henry David Thoreau during Thoreau’s sojourn at Walden Pond. If authentic, the discovery would guarantee the academic career Aine craves, so she doesn’t question the mysterious delivery. Moving to an inn near the site of Thoreau’s cabin, she finds danger instead of the verification she seeks. A young girl only Aine can see haunts Walden woods, becoming more threatening with each appearance; two local residents are killed; the diary entries alter, growing darker. Aine has to wonder whether human evil, supernatural forces, or her own mental disturbances are at work. Spooky motifs such as disfigured dolls, family curses, and visions of a white whale distract from the central story line, but Aine’s struggle with her own illusions is genuinely effective. Agent: Marian Young, Young Agency. (Mar.)