Trine

At the start of Faraday’s emotional debut, a dark sci-fi thriller, black sheep Brad Van Reed reluctantly returns to his small Pennsylvania hometown of Gracious, having fled on his putative wedding day years before. Drawing him back is his younger sister Kristen, keeper of a strange family heirloom that grants her increasingly worrisome visions of future events. Though he hoped for a quick visit, Brad soon becomes involved with the weird folks of Gracious, both local (like Joseph LeFevre, who secretly watches over Kristen) and imported (creepy rich dude Sindle Vunn and his crew of toughs). Plus, a flying specter known as the Nowhere Man has the town spooked, and seems to be closing in on Kristen. Faraday does a good job burying clues to his mystery in the psyches of his characters as well as in the bizarre geometry of an extraterrestrial-fireball-delivered mechanism that may be causing all the weirdness. Readers will especially enjoy Kristen’s Wednesday Addams vibe. Faraday shows promise. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (Apr.)