Nicolette Farrell, placing her life in Philadelphia on hold, embarks on a summer visit to her childhood hometown of Cooley Ridge, NC, to help her brother prepare their family home for sale. The trip forces Nic to recall her abrupt exit from Cooley Ridge a decade ago, following the mysterious (and still unsolved) disappearance of her best friend, Corinne. Nic spends several weeks immersed in clearing the house, visiting her dementia-ridden father, and meeting people from her past. She soon discovers that another local girl has gone missing. As the investigation intensifies and the two cases intersect, Nic starts to question everything she once believed, including the innocence of those in her inner circle. VERDICT YA author Miranda makes her adult fiction debut with this carefully crafted and riveting thriller that is narrated in reverse chronological order, a tense and unusual reading experience that both disorients and intrigues. Readers will obsessively read backward day by day to uncover gradually the surprise ending.—Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

YA author Miranda (Soulprint) makes her adult debut with this fiendishly plotted thriller. Family business brings Philadelphia prep school counselor Nicolette "Nic" Farrell back to her hometown of Cooley Ridge, N.C., a place still fraught with the unsolved disappearance of her best friend, Corinne Prescott, right after their high school graduation a decade earlier. Nic unexpectedly finds herself still attracted to high school sweetheart Tyler, whose current girlfriend, Annaleise Carter, disappears the day after Annaleise texted police with questions about Corinne's case. As Nic struggles to figure out what really happened to Corinne, who her demented father claims to have seen, she must also face some bitter truths—about her provocative BFF and herself. Miranda convincingly conjures a haunted setting that serves as a character in its own right, but what really makes this roller-coaster so memorable is her inspired use of reverse chronology, so that each chapter steps further back in time, dramatically shifting the reader's perspective. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency. (June)