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Dead Voices

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Dead Voices
By Katherine Arden
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2019. Fiction

Ollie, Coco, and Brian are back in this spooky sequel to SMALL SPACES. After the events of a few months before, involving a "smiling man" and a whole bunch of scarecrows, the three best friends are excited to for a peaceful skiing trip to a brand-new resort on Mount Hemlock. As soon as they arrive, an unprecedented blizzard leaves the group snowed-in at the remote ski lodge, Ollie and Coco begin to have dreams of a ghostly girl searching for her bones, and a mysterious last-minute arrival - a ghost-hunter - joins the group. With the help of this surprise addition, the friends probe into the paranormal happenings at the haunted hotel - but do they actually want to uncover the secrets of Hemlock Lodge?

Katherine Arden proves once again her mastery of middle grade horror with ghostly hotel full of truly spooky haunts. As always, Arden creates an incredible atmosphere so spot on that by page five you'll be fully convinced that you yourself are tucked into an isolated hotel during a snowstorm. Despite obvious haunted house tropes, some skillful misdirection turns the expected on itself leaving behind a richly sinister story.
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