Welcome to Bad Creek, Michigan: home of the world’s second largest crucifix and an unholy host of drowned girls.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad Creek, just like every summer. Except Iris’s older sister, Glory, drowned in the lake last year, and Iris can’t seem to move on; Gum is hiding his sexuality from his family while being viciously haunted by Glory’s rotting ghost; and Aidan is distraught over a drunken argument with Glory that he fears may have led to her death.
When Iris sleepwalks to the dilapidated house that Glory obsessively sketched in her final days, she and the boys begin to uncover a sinister history in the very bones of the town. The trio must reckon with the events of last summer and uncover what lurks within Bad Creek before it takes Iris’s life next.
Gripping and vengeful, Bad Creek confronts the intersection of religion, sexuality, and feminism, and forces readers to reckon with monsters in all their forms—human included.
PRAISE FOR BAD CREEK
“Atmospheric and haunting, capturing the heart-pounding exhilaration of exchanging ghost stories around a campfire.”
— Tori Bovalino, author of My Throat an Open Grave
“A creepy and thrilling mystery that skillfully includes timely social commentary.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"...injecting introspective examinations of religious trauma and wealth disparity into a bone-chilling paranormal plot."
— Publisher’s Weekly
“The plot evolves slowly but smoothly, transitioning from mystery to horror before the reader notices while touching on power, religion, and sexuality. This is a stunning, eerie debut.”
— Booklist
