DEAD FRIENDS FOREVER

In Taylor’s thriller, a woman returns to her hometown to uncover a frightening truth that her mind has buried.

When Lily Doucet gets news that her brother, Beau, has died, she leaves Chicago for Louisiana, where she grew up. She has trouble believing that Beau’s fatal drowning was accidental, as it occurred in a bayou he knew well; it’s the same area where the siblings’ cousin Amelia St. Jeannot vanished two decades earlier. Since Beau had apparently been obsessed with Amelia, Lily feels she’ll “understand his last days” if she learns what happened to their cousin. But her memories from that time are hazy at best. Lily reconnects with old friends and with her stone-hearted Aunt Clara (Amelia’s mom); most of these people seem reluctant to help her dig into the past, as if the truth is better left alone. Lily searches for clues at the library and in a local detective’s case file on Amelia’s disappearance, all the while feeling certain that “Amelia’s ghost wants something.” Taylor builds suspense with a relatively slow pace. Readers don’t know any more than Lily does as she gradually uncovers truths (such as the fact that Amelia wasn’t an especially caring person). Flashbacks reveal more of Lily’s memories and additional details about the mystery surrounding Amelia. Myriad characters, even dead ones, are shrouded in ambivalence as it becomes clear that someone among them is likely guilty of something unspeakable. Throughout, Taylor maintains an unnerving mood that refuses to let up: “The staircase sighs under her weight. Upstairs, the hallway air is thick, unmoving, shadows spilling from corners like ink.” The narrative takes a shocking turn in the latter half, though it’s perfectly in line with everything that precedes it. This novel effectively closes the author’s Oblivion Cycle, a trilogy of harrowing stand-alone books connected by theme.

A wholly absorbing dark mystery.