Category: Horror, Mystery, Teen & Young Adult
Language: EnglishKeywords: Gothic Paranormal Southern USA YA
Written by Xan Kaur
Read by Michael Crouch, Anjali Kunapaneni, Jennifer Pickens, Landon Woodson
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen’s disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they couldâve ever imagined.
When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh’s family. Disappearances like this aren’t uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.
For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poorâwell, nothing good comes their way.
Neera sets out to investigate Dawsonâs whereaboutsâif he even still livesâalong with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the townâs founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next.
Macmillan Audio, May 2025
12 hours and 29 minutes
Four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen’s disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they couldâve ever imagined.
When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh’s family. Disappearances like this aren’t uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.
For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poorâwell, nothing good comes their way.
Neera sets out to investigate Dawsonâs whereaboutsâif he even still livesâalong with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the townâs founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next.
Macmillan Audio, May 2025
12 hours and 29 minutes