Five close friendswho used to be six until one of them diedare together again a year after their graduation from boarding school.Heading back to the mansion where they're staying following a punk-rock concert in Newport, Rhode Island, they nearly collide with a tow truck and barrel off the road into a ditch, setting up a strange journey into the unknown. A mysterious man who calls himself the Keeper tells Beatrice, Kipling, Whitley, Cannon, and Martha that they are trapped in a Groundhog Day-like existence called Neverworld Wake. They will remain in this limbo until the point when they decide which one of them may return to the world of the living. In her young adult debut, Pessl (Night Film, 2013, etc.) manages to keep her first-person narrative moving forward while her characters are stuck in time. She offers philosophical meditations on the meaning of life and death, although they frequently seem imparted by the author rather than arrived at by Beatrice, the narrator, who, having just finished her freshman year at Emerson College, seems too short on life experiences for the depth of these reflections. Given their ghostly state, the characters (all assumed white) are fully fleshed out, each seeking a way to cope in their Neverland existence.An eloquent and haunting tale, especially for philosophically-minded readers. (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A year after her charismatic boyfriend dies mysteriously, Bea visits an isolated mansion to reunite with their splintered group of prep-school friends. There, the teens become caught between life and death; until they can choose one among them to live, they are all doomed to repeat the same day forever. A macabre, twisting premise and troubled characters give this suspenseful supernatural novel an intense, dark tone. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 9 Up-Secrets, lies, romance, death, unexpected twists and turns-this fast-paced fantasy thriller has it all. After a car accident, Beatrice Hartley and her friends from a fancy private school fall into the Neverworld Wake, a dark and disturbing version of Groundhog's Day. Day after day, Beatrice, Kipling, Whitley, Cannon, and Martha wake up on the same day, in the same place. Only one will escape the endless loop, but not until they solve the mystery of their friend Jim's death. It was ruled a suicide, but Beatrice has reason to believe there was more to her boyfriend's death than anyone suspected. Each of the characters are distinctive, with their own motivations and secrets. As they band together to investigate Jim's supposed fatal leap into the quarry, they also eye each other with distrust. Even before Jim's death and then the accident, nothing was as it seemed at Darrow-Harker School. This is a well-crafted, edge-of-your-seat story with developed characters and pacing that will keep readers hooked. Give to readers who love mysteries, thrillers, and darker fantasy. VERDICT Unpredictable, exciting, and emotionally wrenching, this is a strong purchase for medium and large collections.-Miranda Doyle, Lake Oswego School District, OR © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

There's a lot going on in Pessl's YA debut, but every element has a touch of weird horror that keeps it from going too far off the rails. Bee is estranged from her friends after the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Jim, the year before. The night she attempts an awkward reunion with her old friends, they narrowly escape a terrible car wreck or do they? When they awake, an eerie man tells them they're doomed to relive the same day until they can come to a consensus about which one of them will survive the crash. Ages of the same day pass, with saintly Bee trying to keep her friends from indulging their basest instincts, until brilliant Martha convinces them that they won't be able to vote on who lives until they get to the bottom of the elephant in the room Jim's death. Although a few plot elements don't hold together under close scrutiny and the characters border on stock, this novel has ambition to spare, and teens looking for something odd, atmospheric, and twisty will likely be enthralled.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2018 Booklist

Beatrice Hartley, 19, has spent the past year distancing herself from her four best friends after the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Jim, in their senior year. With summer ending and the former friends gathering to celebrate a birthday, Bee decides to find out what they know. The reunion doesn't go as expected, and a near-fatal drunk-driving accident brings the teens into the Neverworld, a place between life and death, where they live the same day over and over again until they can agree on who gets to survive. Caught between trying to save her life and solving the mystery surrounding Jim's death, Bee discovers that everyone has a devastating secret. Bestselling adult writer Pessl (Special Topics in Calamity Physics) adeptly creates a compelling nightmare world while maintaining a foothold in realism and providing many wholly unexpected developments. She doesn't shy away from painting her characters as deeply flawed, allowing their choices in the Neverworld to show who they truly are. Thought-provoking and suspenseful, Pessl's YA debut delves into questions of whether even close friends are truly knowable. Ages 12-up. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Pessl's (Special Topics in Calamity Physics; Night Film) young adult debut is a twisting, turning mystery involving five young people-Beatrice, Whitley, Martha, Kip, and Cannon-who once attended the same Rhode Island boarding school brought together a year after the tragic loss of their friend Jim. A tragic accident during their reunion leads them to the Neverworld Wake, a time loop in which they are trapped unless they unanimously select one of their group to survive. The story is at times fascinating but generally repetitive. The jokes are stilted, there is often mention or discussion of suicide, and the privileged characters are somewhat dull. Read by Broadway and TV actress Phoebe Strole, who provides a pleasant narration with distinct character voices. VERDICT Despite its flaws, this may be of interest to fans of Pessl and listeners who enjoy suspense stories in fantasy settings.-Denise -Garofalo, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

GIVE ME YOUR HAND, by Megan Abbott. (Little, Brown, $26.) Abbott, who always immerses readers in hothouse subcultures in her novels - cheerleading, gymnastics - here explores the relationship between competitive scientists at a cutthroat university laboratory. THE SINNERS, by Ace Atkins. (Putnam, $27.) The latest crime novel featuring Sheriff Quinn Colson revolves around a high-end marijuana operation, Fannie Hathcock's thriving strip joint/ brothel and a crooked trucking outfit based in Tupelo, Miss., that cons drivers into hauling stolen goods. ONLY TO SLEEP, by Lawrence Osborne. (Hogarth, $26.) A thriller that jolts Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's iconic private investigator, out of his quiet Mexican retirement and back into the world of scams and seductions. Osborne, who worked as a reporter along the border in the early 1990s, knows Mexico well and he passes that knowledge along to Marlowe. CONAN DOYLE FOR THE DEFENSE: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Writer, by Margalit Fox. (Random House, $27.) Fox, a recently retired obituaries writer for The Times, tells the thrilling story of Arthur Conan Doyle's involvement in a real-life case that might have intrigued his hero, Sherlock Holmes. A DOUBLE LIFE, by Flynn Berry. (Viking, $26.) In this thriller, a London doctor searches for her father, a man of power who long ago disappeared after a murder it appears he committed. Berry tells stories about women who seethe over the knowledge of violence and are fueled by a howling grief for its victims. AFTER THE MONSOON, by Robert Karjel. (Harper/HarperCollins, $26.99.) Karjel's Nordic-noir thriller refreshingly shifts the action from bleak Scandinavia to Djibouti, at the Horn of Africa, where spies and kidnappers converge and Swedish special forces confront the region's jihadists. THE PRICE YOU PAY, by Aidán Truhen. (Knopf, $25.95.) Imagine "Pulp Fiction" crossed with Martin Amis on mescaline, and you'll have a sense of this cocaineinfused, high-octane caper, a brilliant latticework of barbed jokes, subtle observations and inventive misbehaviors at once knowing and brutal. NEVERWORLD WAKE, by Marisha Pessl. (Delacorte, $18.99.) Pessl's first young adult novel is a dazzling psychological thriller in which four high school classmates determine to find answers about the death of a friend. THE BANKER'S WIFE, by Cristina Alger. (Putnam, $27.) In Alger's cerebral, expertly paced Swiss thriller, an American expat wife sorts through the conflicting stories surrounding her husband's death. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books