Our Last Echoes

January 1, 2021
A search for her long-lost mother leads Sophia to a mysterious island where the mist hides supernatural secrets. Eighteen-year-old Sophia Novak grew up in foster care after her mother allegedly died when she was 3. But after a girl named Abby Ryder contacts her out of the blue asking questions about her connection to Bitter Rock--a remote island off the coast of Alaska and the site of several previous disappearances--Sophia talks her way into an internship studying birds at the island's research center. Upon arriving, she's immediately warned of the danger of going out in the mist. She teams up with Abby and Liam Kapoor, the son of one of the researchers, as they investigate myriad strange phenomena, from Sophia's reflection--which does not accurately match her--to the appearance of an ominous six-winged beast. Filled with chilling moments, Marshall's fantastically immersive narrative is peppered with documentary-style transcriptions of audio and video recordings--including flashbacks that slowly tease out the story of what happened the night Sophia's mother disappeared. Occasional interviews with paranormal researcher Dr. Ashford contain a thread that connects to Marshall's Rules for Vanishing (2019). Sophia is White; the supporting cast is broadly diverse. Beautifully haunting and sure to keep readers up all night. (Horror. 14-18)

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January 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 Sophia Novak has always believed that her mother died trying to rescue her from the ocean when she was a little girl. But she's never been in the ocean. Then a strange phone call from a girl named Abby leads her to the remote Alaskan island of Bitter Rock. Shortly after her arrival, she meets Liam Kapoor, son of the lead researcher at the Landon Avian Research Center (LARC), and the mysterious Abby, and together they look for answers behind a series of bizarre disappearances plaguing the island. In time, the increasingly convoluted plot begins to resolve itself, and although the ending falls a bit flat, Marshall's (I Am Still Alive, 2018) atmospheric writing manages to hold it all together. Told in a series of prose chapters mixed with found documents and written confessions, this offers teen readers an engrossing journey that will appeal to fans of body horror and supernatural thrillers.

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April 16, 2021

Gr 9 Up-After 15 years, white teen Sophia Novak is returning to Bitter Rock, AK, the same place where her mother and two colleagues mysteriously disappeared, swallowed by a malevolent mist, and Sophia was miraculously saved from drowning by someone or something she can't remember. Those disappearances weren't the first, however-people have been vanishing from Bitter Rock for over a hundred years. Now 18, in and out of foster homes, Sophia gets a mysterious call suggesting that her mother may not be dead after all. Sophia is determined to find answers, but the closer she gets to the truth, the darker the secrets become, and she learns that the echoes of the vanished may be more than just ghosts. This is a very good ghost story told in a variety of media-narrative, email, and video and interview transcripts-which all work together to effectively tell the story. Marshall does an excellent job of giving the characters their own identities and making them feel real, as well as drive the action. While this book stands alone, it takes place in the same world as Rules for Vanishing, with some of the cast appearing in both books. The engrossing story and quick pacing make this a quick read despite its length. VERDICT A gripping ghost story with great characters that will thrill readers.-Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX

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