Like all teens in her poverty-stricken rural-Kentucky town, Winter Crane determines to leave Reeve's End forever. One day she discovers Lennon Bishop beaten and left in the woods--and with knowledge that something has happened to Winter's friend Edie. When Lennon also disappears, Winter joins forces with Lennon's brother for a dangerous pursuit of the truth. A thrilling mystery in the well-evoked Appalachian wilderness. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this atmospheric thriller, Winter Crane knows that Reeve's End, Ky., is the kind of place that doesn't let go once it gets its hooks in you. She's determined to break free and go to medical school, far away from her father, who hits both her and the bottle hard, which makes Winter more comfortable living in a backwoods shack. It's near there that she finds Lennon Bishop, battered but obviously from the nicer side of the tracks. He's evasive about who hit him but lets slip that he's in Reeve's End to see Winter's friend Edie, who has disappeared. Then Lennon is gone, too, quickly replaced by his taciturn older brother, Jude, who believes that Winter knows what happened. Armstrong (the Age of Legends trilogy) imbues her teenage characters with a realistic mixture of adult grit, earned by difficult circumstances, and youthful charm, especially the flinty Winter. There are enough twists to keep any suspense fan happy, but it's the deeper theme of trying to disentangle oneself from the place society says you belong that resonates strongest. Ages 14-up. Agent: Sarah Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Gr 10 Up-No one who leaves comes back to Reeve's End. Winter Crane wants to run off immediately after high school to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, and she plans to never look back. The declining town has nothing to offer anyone, especially Winter, who spends most of her time in a shack in the woods, living off the land to escape her abusive, alcoholic father and memories of better times with her older sister, Cady, who left town after a devastating encounter with a controlling boyfriend. Then she rescues a boy, Lennon, from an attack, and as she listens to his claims that he knows something about a recently missing girl, she starts to wonder what has happened to other teens who left town and were never heard from again, including Cady. Terror follows the pair as an attacker stalks them, but when Lennon's brother Jude shows up to help and Lennon disappears, Winter isn't sure whom to believe or trust. Winter has solid survival skills and a determination to uncover the truth, but the killer may be too clever to stop before he claims more lives, and the local police, who think it is all a big prank, refuse to help. "Suspenseful" doesn't begin to describe the tone of this compelling thriller, which will hold readers in its grasp from the first chapter. Fans of Laura Ruby's Bone Gap and April Henry's Girl, Stolen will be drawn to Winter's fierce personality as well as to the ghastly details in Armstrong's sinister tale of secrets, guilt, and power. VERDICT Purchase where the author and suspense novels are popular.-Kerry Sutherland, Akron-Summit County Public Library, OH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Master of crime thrillers, Armstrong (The Masked Truth, 2015) introduces a new, intensely independent female protagonist: Winter, a high-school junior in extremely rural Reeve's End, where thirty percent live below the poverty line. While trying to find Lennon Bishop, a mysterious boy she just met who has vanished, Winter stumbles into a much larger, sinister conspiracy involving teenagers who leave town at the end of each school year and never return. She joins forces with Lennon's brooding brother, Jude; though the two are initially drawn together by a common goal, they slowly realize that they make an unstoppable team, and their mutual stubbornness turns to endearing respect and affection. Winter gets into and out of treacherous situations frequently and with dubious ease, but readers will be drawn in by Armstrong's expert pacing and meticulously constructed mystery. As the Bishop boys and Winter finally piece together the truth, the plot races toward a gripping climax. Fans of April Henry will relish this thriller.--Kling, Caitlin Copyright 2017 Booklist

A girl living in a depressed coal mining town finds a wealthy boy in the woods who has been savagely beaten, then searches for him when he disappears.Winter Crane intends to escape both her alcoholic father and her trailer-park life in the largely white Appalachian community of Reeve's End. On a hunting trip, she finds Lennon unconscious in the woods. She fashions a makeshift stretcher for him and drags him back to her tiny hunting shack, where he tells her he knows her friend Edie, but Edie's missing. Then Lennon disappears. With Jude, Lennon's older brother, Winter embarks on a quest to find him and to investigate what has happened to the many young people who have left Reeve's End. The search takes the partners to the boys' wealthy parents' home, where she's accosted. The plot thickens even further when Winter finds the body of another missing Reeve's End young man. Unable to count on the incompetent local police, Winter and Jude find themselves in several dangerous situations as they clamber through abandoned mines and the like. Complicating the situation is a pack of menacing feral dogs that roams the area. Characterizations ring true, especially that of Winter, who dreams of becoming a doctor. Armstrong develops a possible romance between Winter and Jude even as she pursues her mystery plot. As it thickens, and the danger turns into a serious life-or-death threat, the narrative easily holds readers' interest. Thrills and mystery from a pro. (Suspense. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.