The Goldens

In Wilson’s disquieting debut, 18-year-old Chloe Hughes gets off to a bumpy start at Dern University when her snobbish roommates bully her for her northern English accent. Her fortune changes when she returns a lost scarf to fellow student Clara Holland. Clara, the daughter of fashion moguls, is an influencer and model who throws lavish parties at her family’s estate. As a thank-you for the scarf, Clara invites Chloe to one such party; from there, their friendship intensifies, and Clara soon asks Chloe to live with her. Together, they plan increasingly extravagant gatherings, to which Clara invites several of her adoring fans. When Vanessa, one of Chloe’s former roommates, apologizes for bullying her, Chloe responds by inviting her to a New Year’s Eve party. Then Vanessa disappears, and Clara begins inviting more girls to live on her estate, where she subjects them to cultlike rules (“No prioritizing outside friends or family over the group”) that make Chloe increasingly uncomfortable. Wilson’s prose is moody and elegant (“I missed lounging in the orangery, the warm dirt and citrus scent of it, the mildewed cushion soft beneath my back”), but she never offers a convincing reason why Chloe would continue her friendship with the increasingly erratic Clara. Still, fans of slow-burn thrillers will find plenty here to admire. Agent: Chloe Seager, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (July)