A really great balanced mystery story with good pacing. Three siblings return to their childhood home because their brother Ben- who disappeared when he was 6, is telling them to come home by appearing to the landscapers.
Violet, Vail and Dodie have full lives apart from Fell, they left long ago and left their related traumas behind. The current time in the story is the late 1980’s. They all decide to return back to their hometown and their childhood home, untouched for 20 years. After Ben’s disappearance, their dad split town and soon thereafter their mother was also gone. They still own the home and maintain the grounds, but now they need to help solve the mystery of Ben’s disappearance so that his soul can rest and they can move on with their lives.
I think what makes this thriller special is that although it is a mystery, thriller and ghost story, the characters go through their own journey as they deal with their current lives and making sense of their childhoods. As they see spooky unexplainable things in the home, they realize they don’t have identical memories of what happened.
The setting was ethereal and ponderous; with vivid descriptions and a lot of chirpy dialogue and critical relationships to keep the plot moving. The reveals came slowly then quick. I was surprised and intrigued.
If you are in the mood for a homecoming small town mystery ghost story, this is definitely the book for you.
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC. Book to be published January 19, 2026.
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