Nowhere Burning

Bestseller Ward (The Last House on Needless Street) showcases her talent for twisty plotting, genuine scares, and unreliable narrators in this brilliant and brutal riff on Peter Pan. The dark things lurking in the Rocky Mountain town of Ault are many, and young protagonist Riley and her little brother, Oliver, who recently lost their mother and were sent to live with a cruel cousin, are on the radar of more than one of them. When a strange, scrawny young woman named Noon shows up at Riley’s window and offers her directions to Nowhere, a ruined mansion compound that has become a refuge for runaways, Riley seizes the opportunity to escape. Shrouded in urban legend, Nowhere belonged to movie star Leaf Winham before burning down years ago. Upon arrival, the siblings are welcomed by the borderline-feral children squatting there, but Riley fears her many secrets may ruin everything if they get out. Meanwhile, the children of Nowhere are playing with dark powers, and two investigative journalists are on their way to the compound to shoot a documentary on Winham’s death, threatening to pull the gory, terrible history of Nowhere into the light. Ward ably captures the slipperiness of reality through the eyes of a child and masterfully pulls off a devastating final reveal. This is sure to haunt readers long after the last page is turned. Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Assoc. (Feb.)