Lost Girls of Hollow Lake

A secret stalks the survivors of a catastrophic class trip in Faubion’s harrowing Pacific Northwest–set horror novel. Local legend says that within Hollow Lake sits Dead Refuge Island, which can only occasionally be seen, and only by some. “People who look for the island don’t ever come back,” so when Evie Williams and seven other teen girls vanish during a Shady Cove High–sponsored outing to Hollow Lake National Park, people fear the worst. Forty-six days later, however, Evie and four fellow “Lost Girls” return home. When questioned, the quintet falsely claim that they and the still-missing trio got separated while lost in the trees; the nightmarish truth is hardly believable, and telling fictions allows them to forget it. Evie and company agree to steer clear of each other, until somebody starts texting them recorded threats from a girl they know to be dead, forcing them to band together and investigate. Evie’s unfiltered first-person narration alternates between the present-day mystery and the events she experienced at Hollow Lake. Despite an arbitrary-feeling denouement, Faubion delivers a riveting tale that’s both affecting and petrifying, juxtaposing psychological and supernatural terrors with tender queer romance and a heartwarming human-canine bond. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 12–up. Agent: Katie Shea Boutillier, Donald Maass Literary. (Jan.)