Till Human Voices Wake Us (The Violet Hour #1)

When she was five, Cia lost her entire family—and her leg—in a mysterious fire. Now 17, Cia’s best friend Alice claims she has a secret surrounding her recently disappeared ex-boyfriend Noah that could also shed light on that terrible night. But Cia doesn’t want to dig up the past. Following an argument, the friends part ways, only for Alice’s body to be discovered in the quarry hours later. Though the police believe Alice died by suicide, Cia and her friend Will aren’t convinced. Together with Will and Noah’s twin brother Judah, Cia conducts her own investigation into Alice’s death and discovers clues pointing toward a suspicious pattern of missing youths from the neighborhood. As the trio delve deeper into the town’s seedy underbelly, they realize that Alice’s death, the disappearances, and the fire that killed Cia’s family are connected to a larger web of crime. Debut author Roque confidently weaves together dynamic characters with complex histories to riveting effect. Cia is at once a brave and vulnerable, trusting and wary heroine whose empathy propels this suspenseful mystery thriller. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–17. (Feb.)