A young woman attempts to use the gifts from her mother to determine what's real and what's imagined as she searches for her father's killer.Selina DaSilva is an 18-year-old girl living on the Caribbean island of St. Virgil. Her mother, a spiritualist, worked in tandem with her father, a forensics investigator, to solve crimes in their small town. Selina's mother's intuition led to the release of a man the townspeople believed to be guilty of murdering a woman. After his acquittal, Selina's father was killed, and her mother ended up in a coma. Selina is surviving by selling "fake spells and charms" in her friend's mystic curiosity shop. She's beginning to have troubling visions of her father when a suspect in a brutal death at a local hotel visits the shop. Selina partners with Gabriel, her ex-boyfriend, to try to figure out if the murder is connected to what happened to her parents. This wonderfully atmospheric story will keep readers on their toes. The shades of horror are artfully done and add just the right amount of tension to this enjoyable read. The protagonist's struggle to believe in the other world in which her mother existed so easily sets up an interesting character study. The characters are predominantly Black or multiracial.A heart-racing tale of Caribbean folklore, herbalism, and mysticism. (Thriller. 13-18)

Gr 9 Up— This is a dark and haunting novel that draws from Caribbean mythology and will leave readers eager for more by Dass. Selina is an outcast on the small island St. Virgil due to her mother's bad reputation and a past tragedy that left her father dead and her mother in a coma. She works in a shop owned by her boyfriend's sister, Allison. Selina and Allison run a con where Selina pretends to have psychic abilities by snooping through customers' personal belongings. Despite her skepticism towards her mother's psychic teachings, Selina finds herself using them to maintain the ruse. Everything changes when an unsettling man seeks help at the shop and new attacks start. With the help of an ex-boyfriend, Selina delves into the murders, uncovering connections that stir up old emotions. This novel delivers everything a horror reader could want: high stakes, intriguing characters with questionable motives, and page-turning suspense. Readers will root for Selina as she navigates through the challenges and dangers of her world, all while facing the harsh treatment of those she has known her whole life. Selina's relationship problems will also interest readers. VERDICT A must-buy for where horror is popular.— Michelle Lettus