The Corruption of Hollis Brown

Hollis Brown is a lonely high school senior in a struggling rural town, one where almost nobody has the money to leave. He strikes a deal with Walt, a mysterious teenage stranger, and ends up possessed.

Walt is a ghost with a violent past and unfinished business in the town. He now shares Hollis's body and mind. In return for food and shelter, he helps Hollis improve his life, and together they work to lay Walt's spirit to rest.

Living that close changes how they feel. Hollis stops wanting Walt gone, and the two begin falling for each other. Meanwhile his friends sense that something is wrong with him.

The queer young adult novel starts as supernatural horror and settles into an intimate love story, told in short vignettes with a poetic voice. An exorcism, long overdue, is coming, and Hollis must decide what he will lose when it arrives.