WOLFWOOD

A New York City teenager discovers the dark secrets in her mother’s paintings.

Seventeen-year-old Indigo juggles jobs and school, trying to keep things afloat. Her mother, Zoe Serra, found acclaim through Wolfwood, her disturbing and violent series of watercolors. While the works were a gallery and art buyer’s delight, Zoe never completed the series. Circumstances and chronic poor health have made her a “gray pencil-sketch version of herself,” and knowing the impact of motherhood on her mother’s career, Indigo can’t help but blame herself. Motivated by a promised big payout and the possibility of bringing color back to her mother’s life, Indigo enthusiastically supports a fortuitous opportunity to revive the Wolfwood series. But with the deadline approaching and her mother balking, desperate Indigo steps in. Not only is the forgery morally dodgy, it’s dangerous too. As Indigo paints, the world of Wolfwood engulfs her. At first she writes these experiences off as sleep-deprived fever dreams, but when injuries manifest in the waking world, she understands there may be some credence to Zoe’s reluctance. Interspersed between Indigo’s present and her Wolfwood painting episodes are 1980s vignettes unveiling Zoe’s past, most ominously the real-life trauma behind her macabre paintings. First-person narration puts readers inside Indigo’s worries, anxiety, and guilt. Baer’s storytelling is lushly descriptive and suspenseful; teasing details and clues keep the pages turning even as some repetitive moments slow the pace. The Serras are White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast.

Twisty and tangled.