The prolific Mary Downing Hahn (Closed For The Season) has masterfully crafted another suspenseful tale of the supernatural that will keep readers hooked from the very first page.
Sometimes the adventure of a lifetime can begin when we least expect it to happen.
Teenaged Ali's world changes when she finds an ordinary photograph of three girls - her mother, her Aunt Dulcie, and what should be a third person. Oddly, this portion of the photograph has been ripped out. Ali asks her mother and aunt who the missing person is, but only receives vague and unsatisfactory answers.
When Ali goes to visit her aunt and four year-old cousin in her family's former summerhouse in Maine, she thinks she will finally be able to solve this mystery which has troubled her for so long, but gets more than what she bargained for.
An angry young girl named Sissy soon arrives on the scene, and begins to talk about a girl named Teresa who drowned under mysterious circumstances - her body never recovered. Soon this "ghost story" takes on frightening new dimensions. What is the link between Sissy and Teresa? Do Ali's mother and aunt know more about the drowning than they have revealed? How long can a painful secret be kept?
Ms. Hahn has a wonderful gift for getting into the minds of her characters and showing us their world in a vivid and unforgettable manner. The dialogue is real, and the issues (e.g. correcting past mistakes, justice) are well-presented. This is one of her best books, and I have been her devoted fan since I was a teenager.
