Synopsis
Vacationing in Winter Harbor, Maine, is a tradition for Vanessa and Justine Sands, and that means spending time with the Carmichael boys. This summer, Vanessa is determined to channel some of her older sister’s boldness, get over her fear of the ocean, and maybe turn her friendship with Simon Carmichael into something much more.
But when Justine goes cliff-diving after a big family argument, and her body washes ashore the next day, Vanessa is sure that it was more than an accident. She is more certain of this, when she discovers that her sister was keeping some big secrets and Caleb Carmichael’s gone missing. Suddenly, the entire oceanfront town is abuzz when a series of grim, water-related accidents occur, with the male victims washed ashore grinning from ear to ear.
Vanessa and Simon team up to figure out if these creepy deaths have anything to do with Justine and Caleb. But will what Vanessa discovers mean the end of her summer romance, or even life as she knows it?
Publishers Weekly
After fearless and beautiful 18-year-old Justine Sands dies after jumping off an ocean cliff at her family's Maine summer home, her grieving younger sister, Vanessa, is certain it was neither suicide nor an accident. Teenage Caleb, who was with Justine that night, is missing, so Vanessa joins forces with his older brother, Simon, to find him as well as answers to the mystery. At every turn, however, a vicious girl named Zara obstructs their path. Why does Vanessa get searing headaches when Zara is near? And what do strange weather patterns have to do with the string of deaths that follow Justine's? Part romance, part mystery, Rayburn's (the Maggie Bean series) tale is a solid supernatural thriller, but it doesn't coalesce into anything more than the sum of its parts. Not all of the plot threads are well resolved-- for example, it's never clear why Vanessa is sometimes able to hear her dead sister speaking to her. Vanessa's dry-eyed, obsessive grief keeps sympathy at a distance, and her feelings for Simon don't have much heft. Ages 14-up. (June)