The Bad Ones

Four people vanish from one small town during a single winter night. One of them is Becca, the best friend Nora has drifted away from. With the police offering little, Nora sets out to work out what happened to her.

Becca left a string of coded messages meant for Nora to decode. Following them, Nora uncovers a dark stretch of the town's history and a piece of local lore: a goddess of forgotten origins who figured in the games the two girls played as children. A counting rhyme about who is still alive in the morning hangs over the whole story.

This is supernatural horror with a fantasy streak, written so that it can be picked up by teenagers and adults alike. The mood is dark and eerie, and the mystery moves through puzzles and clues rather than through a conventional investigation.

The friendship at the center is a difficult one, close and a little poisonous. The book pays attention to how childhood play and making things can take on real power, and to how thin the line is between pretending and believing. Readers who want a haunted-town mystery with real menace and a personal wound at its heart will find both here.