Gr 9 Up--A debut novel that will draw readers into a darkly atmospheric mystery set in the bayous of Louisiana. Seventeen-year-old Grey spends every summer in La Cachette, Psychic Capital of the World, where everyone has a gift ranging from prophetic insight to bilocation. With her chestnut hair and green eyes, Grey doesn't match her longtime companions in La Cachette--the Summer Children who were born in the same six-month stretch--and yet all of them are like her siblings. Grey usually relishes her time on the bayou but this summer is different because Elora, her twin flame born on the same day and hour, has gone missing under menacing circumstances. Now La Cachette is torn apart by old and new rifts, and nobody is safe from the coming storm. Sain's supernatural thriller is deeply absorbing with its swampy atmosphere and vivid characters that surface one by one to engage teens deeper into Grey's mystery. The eccentric psychics and looming atmosphere of La Cachette lend this book a creepy edge that readers of supernatural mysteries will no doubt appreciate. VERDICT Recommended for readers of paranormal mystery--especially those who are drawn to atmospheric settings and well-developed characters.--Talea Anderson, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA

Evil lurks in a tiny Louisiana town that has more than its fair share of supernatural power. Seventeen-year-old Grey and her best friend, Elora, have always been "twin flames," "lit from the same match," sharing everything and uncannily alike. In their hometown of La Cachette, a bayou town of 106 known as the Psychic Capital of the World, people often have strange and potent abilities. Despite having vanished several months ago, Elora keeps appearing in Grey's mind's eye. These flashes are brief and dark, suggesting that Elora unsuccessfully ran for her life, and Grey's grief makes the narration more sad than scary. The 10 young people known locally as the Summer Children, including eight other kids who were born between the equinoxes that same year, have already been through a lot; two of them, identical twins, were murdered when they were 4. At first, Grey suspects their killer of Elora's murder as well, but in the process of digging up clues, she unravels a much more complex situation as well as a blue-eyed stranger who rivals her chain-smoking childhood crush for her sexual interest. La Cachette's tragic mysteries are suitably intricate, if occasionally confusing, and though the plot drags somewhat in the middle, the hurricane-fueled finale wraps everything up nicely. The setting colors every event in the story with a splash of Southern gothic; it's perhaps even more of a central character than either Grey or Elora. Main characters are presumably White. Atmospheric. (Thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Green-eyed Grey, 17, returns every summer to La Cachette, La., the "Psychic Capital of the World," to help run her grandmother's spiritualist bookstore. One of 10 Summer Children born in one year, most assumed white, Grey is determined to uncover what happened to best friend and fellow Summer Child Elora, who's been missing for several months. Though many suspect Dempsey Fontenot, believed to have killed four-year-old twins and Summer Children Ember and Orli years ago, others think a rougarou, or werewolf, is to blame. When a mysterious blue-eyed stranger begins asking questions about the twins' suspected killer, Grey's latent psychic abilities activate--but though she experiences flashes through Elora's eyes, she cannot decode them, or understand why the other Summer Children want her to leave. With a hurricane barreling toward La Cachette, Grey's investigation into Elora's disappearance soon turns deadly. Infused with Creole and Cajun legends and language, Myers Sain's dreamy prose conjures a mythical Southern Gothic atmosphere, mixing violence with a Byronic characterization of Elora's stepbrother Hart. Taut pacing builds sustained terror on the page with each successive suspect in this formidable debut. Ages 14--up. (Aug.)

In the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World--the bayou town of La Cachette, Louisiana--the disappearance of 17-year-old Elora should be solvable, believes Grey, her best friend. Yet Elora has been missing for months, with no leads from La Cachette's 106 residents. Grey, haunted by troubling visions of Elora running for her life, refuses to give up, even though the rest of their friends seem resigned. As Grey investigates, she realizes that the town is full of secrets, all seemingly connected to the night 13 years ago when two children were murdered, their killer vanished. The Louisiana bayou is an evocative setting for this Southern gothic thriller about hidden pasts and avoidable tragedies. The mystery is compelling, if unevenly paced between a slow middle and a whirlwind conclusion. In her debut, Sain keeps Grey (and readers) guessing with a tangled backstory, believable red herrings, and tension between mundane and supernatural explanations. A hurricane provides a nigh-operatic atmosphere for a confrontation with the killer, where the town's shameful secrets come to light.