AustLit

'A remote cabin. A family on edge. They are not alone.

'It was meant to be a family bonding exercise: two weeks in a mountain cabin on the outskirts of a former gold-mining town. These days, Wooralla’s only claim to fame is a retro diner called The Flying Saucer and a dusty museum dedicated to the area’s history of UFO sightings. Owen knows it’s all bogus, but at least it gives him something to do.

'Half a day into their holiday, Owen’s family is already bickering. By day two, his little sister is sick. On the third night, they witness peculiar lights in the sky.

'By day nine they are fleeing, too panicked to grab their phones, belongings, even the family dog. Owen doesn’t know what they’re running from, he only knows he needs to keep his little sister safe. But how can he tell anyone about his dad’s erratic behaviour? Weird howling from deep in the bush? Strange entities hiding in the trees? How does he explain what was real and what wasn’t when he doesn’t even know himself?

'In Owen’s search for answers, nothing is as it seems. And what he’ll uncover is beyond anything he imagined.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A suspenseful mystery about a missing boy and a group of teenagers, one of whom knows something but isn't telling, from the award-winning author of Small Spaces.

'HENRY WEAVER IS MISSING
Three months ago, thirteen-year-old Henry disappeared from The Shallows during a violent storm, leaving behind his muddied mountain bike at the train station.

'MASON WEAVER IS TRAPPED
While Mason doesn't know who he is or what he's capable of, he knows the one thing binding him to this suffocating small town is his younger brother, Henry.

'CHLOE BAXTER WANTS ANSWERS
Why would Henry run away without telling her? One of Chloe's friends knows something and she's determined to find out the truth.

'As Chloe wades into dangerous waters and Mason's past emerges, a chilling question ripples to the surface: how far would you go to keep a secret?' (Publication summary)

'We don’t pick and choose what to be afraid of. Our fears pick us.”

'Tash Carmody has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn’t real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory’s never spoken about the week she went missing. As disturbing memories resurface, Tash starts to see Sparrow again. And she realises Mallory is the key to unlocking the truth about a dark secret connecting them. Does Sparrow exist after all? Or is Tash more dangerous to others than she thinks?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.