SCARS OF REDEMPTION

In Quinton’s YA sequel, a teenager with supernatural abilities helps to search for missing children and confronts a formidable evil.

It’s 1963, and an internship at a New Orleans newspaper offers Del Larouche a chance to live what she sees as a normal life. However, the 18-year-old is extraordinary in at least one way: She has undeniable skill at trancing, which involves accessing a dreamlike world where she can see spirits and other supernatural phenomena. Although she considers this a “curse,” she has a warmhearted mentor in Mama Dedé, who originally taught her how to wield her powers. Del’s supernatural abilities may also help Frank Morgan, a retired NOPD detective who occasionally works cases for the department unofficially. His latest involves three missing kids, each apparently taken from a different orphanage within the last two weeks. There’s no physical evidence, but Del uses her trancing ability and stumbles onto a viable suspect. However, the culprit has powers, as well, and won’t be easy to catch. As Del grows more powerful, Mama Dedé becomes convinced that the longer and deeper the teen’s trances are, the more danger she faces. Quinton’s well-developed cast grounds and energizes this supernatural tale. Del, for example, has an unconventional family; she lives with Mama Dedé, a benefactor named Armand Baptiste, and an intellectually disabled boy, Jimmy, whom she knows from her own time at an orphanage; one of the missing girls disappeared from where Del and Jimmy once stayed. The story moves along at an impressive pace, alternating third-person narrative perspectives and picking up even steam as the threats increase. Myriad scenes of trancing deliver fascinating, sometimes frightening, otherworldly experiences, as when Del cringes at an eerie mix of human and nonhuman screams. The final act suggests a path for a third installment, but it’s Del and her allies that will have readers coming back for a sequel.

Unforgettable characters drive this grim but riveting paranormal thriller.