Shiny Happy People

Because of her biological mother’s history with drug dependency, self-admittedly high-strung Kyra Cartwright, 16, avoids the parties and substances that seem to tempt her classmates. Living with her adoptive family in Hopewell, Va., a former Big Tobacco town now dominated by a shadowy pharmaceutical conglomerate, further cements Kyra’s resolve to steer clear of potential temptation. She becomes alarmed when videos of her classmates partaking in mysterious new drug Spore—which causes seizures followed by eerie euphoria—start circulating. Those who take Spore, including Kyra’s adoptive brother and her best friend, leave the parties as unsettlingly cheerful simulacrums of themselves. Only Kyra and new student Logan seem immune to the drug’s allure, and aware of its strange effects. As friends and teachers urge Kyra to “adjust” to the changes around her, and even suggest trying Spore herself, she begins to suspect that a sinister force is behind the substance’s spread. In his chilling YA debut, Chapman (Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, for adults) blends harrowing psychological terror with visceral body horror to deliver a nightmare steeped in paranoid ambiance. Claustrophobic prose interspersed with haunting dream sequences touch on themes of addiction, conformity, family abandonment, and trauma. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)