Only She Came Back

How it reads

Only She Came Back is young adult (young-adult psychological thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are friendship, identity and secrets. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. At 320 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a hidden gem — known to relatively few readers.