The Fade

November 1, 2018
A 15-year-old moves into a haunted house complete with creepy neighbors.Haley is a city girl, and she hates that her family made her move from Chicago to a small town in Wisconsin. What's worse, her new house is eerie, with a moldy, spooky basement where she hears unexplained noises. Haley is a talented artist who begins to lose consciousness, coming to only to find macabre images of dead girls she's drawn. It turns out that years ago, four girls disappeared without a trace, and only Haley and the little boy who lives across the way can see their ghosts. Haley eventually meets a cute but cagey boy and some adventurous new friends who all seem willing to help her. But when séances go wrong and suspicions mount, Haley finds herself facing the dark basement alone. While the premise isn't terribly original and thoughts about the afterlife are somewhat simplistic, Lunetta (Bad Blood, 2017, etc.) creates a disturbing and mysterious vibe, startling readers with unexpectedly brilliant twists. The wild ride will have readers flipping back and forth to understand aspects of the psychological thrills. Haley is mixed-race Vietnamese-American and white; other main characters are white. There is diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity.An impressively scary ghost story that will keep you up all night. (Horror. 12-15)

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October 15, 2018
Grades 7-10 Lunetta's mildly spooky haunted-house story starts in the usual way: Haley and her family move to a big house in Gladwell, Wisconsin, a drastic change from their Chicago condo, which Haley is not happy with. She misses her friends, and the drafty old house makes her uncomfortable, a feeling that grows when Haley learns that her block is notorious because four girls went missing there. After getting inexplicably locked in the basement, having her drawings torn, and experiencing a creepy Ouija board s�ance, Haley is sure the girls are haunting her. Haley thinks they need their murders solved before they can move on, but is she in danger herself? Until the surprising mid-story twist, this is a formulaic but competent ghost story with a likable lead and chills for those not well versed in the genre. The story picks up significantly after Haley's investigation progresses through a sudden tragedy, though the ending is rushed and may be unsatisfying for some. Libraries where haunted-house mysteries are popular should consider this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)