OF SCARS AND STARDUST

This crime thriller will have readers guessing whether it’s paranormal or psychological.

Claire has grown up in a tiny town in Ohio, where her father is the police chief. Fifteen-year-old Claire is at a secret party in the cornfields when her little sister, Ella, shows up. Claire sends her home alone even though it’s late, only to discover the next morning that the girl has been attacked and her face mutilated. Sent to New York, Claire, grown cynical and now involved with a drug dealer, learns two years later that Ella has disappeared again, and she heads home to search for the girl. Small-town life turns nasty when she’s accused of hurting her sister. But Claire firmly believes that wolves live in the cornfields and are the true guilty parties. Everyone thinks she’s crazy except police intern Grant, her longtime secret heartthrob. As she and Grant investigate and learn that Claire’s father has some connection to an earlier disappearance, events spiral out of control. Hannah presents events through Claire’s point of view, even while clearly hinting that Claire may be an unreliable narrator. She might persuade readers that those wolves are real and that this indeed might be a paranormal story. Readers will be left with no doubt by the end of the book, but they can enjoy speculating throughout.

An intriguing puzzle of a book.