The Violent Season

Every November in Wolf Ridge, Vt., the townspeople are “suddenly overwhelmed with a hunger for violence”—proven by a yearslong streak of unexplainable accidents, injuries, suicides, and suspicious deaths. At least that’s what self-proclaimed “diamond tough” 16-year-old Wyatt Green believes ever since her mother was murdered by an unknown assailant last November. Grieving and adrift, Wyatt spends her time desperately yearning for her best friend and unrequited love Cash Peters, who lost his mother to suicide two Novembers ago; he attempts to dissuade her from her theory amid their endless nights of smoking, drinking, and having occasional inebriated sex. But when a partnered English project throws Wyatt together with caramel-haired Porter Dawes, the school rich kid and golden boy—whom Cash just so happens to despise—Wyatt finds herself gaining much-needed perspective, and the power Cash holds over her fading, culminating in not-unexpected tragedy. Readers sensitive to violence and sexual assault may wish to steer clear, and occasionally predictable beats paired with an ambiguous ending may disappoint some. Still, those seeking a dark mystery will find much to appreciate in Walters’s sharp, atmospheric prose and distinctly drawn cued-white cast. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich and Bourret. (Oct.)