Starred Review With a brush of nostalgia, Meloy takes readers to 1980s Oregon, where a picturesque town is about to unearth something sinister. A construction project, led by 13-year-old Archie's father, grinds to a halt after digging reveals a destabilizing cave beneath the site. This discovery coincides with a surge in unusual occurrences around town and strange behavior among the adults, noticed primarily by the ragtag foursome at the novel's heart. A general sense of unease is elevated when Archie and his friends (Athena, Chris, and Oliver) sneak to the construction site for a peek at the cave and Oliver falls into a sort of epileptic fit. Meloy expertly teases out the suspense to foster an atmosphere of otherworldly mystery, while concretely establishing the story's sense of time and place. Delectable details stud the narrative with an '80s sensibility video store, a character wearing Jams, myriad music references the kids pedal their bikes madly to confront the increasingly dangerous threat besetting their home. Written for his young self, whose only horror option was Stephen King, Meloy delivers a solid middle-grade horror story with authentic chills and splashes of gore. The friendship between the four main characters drives it all, much like in Stranger Things and Stand by Me, ensuring readers' hearts are engaged as much as their adrenaline.

Kids save their town from an ancient evil.Archie, Oliver, Chris, and Athena live in Seaham, an economically depressed, small coastal Oregon town where many streets and landmarks are named after the Langdons, a reclusive, wealthy, 19th-century fur-trading family. Archie's dad was in charge of a multimillion-dollar project to develop a portion of the headlands, much to the dismay of Athena's environmentalist parents and others in the community-but it's been paused. Sinister happenings quickly take over the town and the adults in it after the appearance of three strangers who seem new to being human. Old photographs indicate some ancient evil at the heart of the town's founding, and the adults are suddenly replaced with sticky, odd-smelling replicants. The story, set in 1987 with a cast of bike-riding kids, their older siblings, a helpful adult nerd, one character with psychic powers, and an ending that leaves room for a sequel, feels like a middle-grade adaptation of the TV show Stranger Things. It's a fun, creepy, attention-grabbing story, but a long and slow buildup culminates in a rushed climax and resolution, and the incomplete-feeling worldbuilding doesn't quite allow readers to settle into the deliciously ominous truths introduced at the very end. Characters are cued as White.A fun read with a classic feel. (Horror. 9-13)