In 1926, five women disappeared from a remote island in Vermont. Now, one hundred years later, it’s happening again.

Struggling actress Marin Keane is shocked when she lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery of New Avalon, an island on sprawling Lake Faraday in Vermont. She’s even more surprised when she learns that the role requires a weeklong research trip to that very spot.

Because New Avalon isn’t your ordinary island. A century ago, it was a commune for spiritual mediums—until they all vanished in 1926. The only trace of them was five dresses hanging from the branches of an old oak tree in the middle of the island, one for each missing woman. Some locals say they simply left. Others think they were murdered. But the prevailing opinion, thanks to a diary left behind by one of the vanished, a young woman named Daisy Rue, is that a séance gone wrong conjured something supernatural that took them all one by one.

Not long after arriving, Marin and her castmates, including legendary actress Violet Wright and white-hot director Ronan Peters, begin to realize all is not right with New Avalon. They hear strange noises in the night and notice mysterious symbols left behind by the island’s previous occupants. And after a sudden health emergency leaves Marin, Ronan, and the other actors stranded on the island, the disappearances begin again.

Is it the work of someone trying to derail the movie? Or is the island’s alleged supernatural past catching up with the present? As fear and suspicion mount, Marin turns to Daisy’s diary, hoping it holds the key to figuring out what really happened to the women of New Avalon—and how to keep the island’s terrible history from repeating itself.

I’ve read almost all of Riley Sager’s books and mostly enjoyed them, though I’ll admit The Only One Left gave me some real whiplash with how insane, and honestly kind of ridiculous, the twists got. Ever since finishing that one, I’ve approached his newer releases with a bit more hesitation than I used to. I don’t know why, but here we are. I can say that I did enjoy this one, even though it felt like not a whole lot happened.

A hundred years ago, five women vanished from a remote Vermont island without a trace. Marin, a struggling actress, lands a role in a movie based on that unsolved disappearance and quickly finds out the job comes with a week long research trip to the actual island where it all happened. What was once a community of spiritual mediums turned into a mystery overnight back in 1926, when every single member disappeared, leaving nothing behind but five dresses (one for each missing woman) hanging from a tree. Theories about what happened range from them simply walking away to something paranormal, with most locals leaning on a diary left by one of the vanished women as proof that a séance went horribly wrong and summoned something that took them one by one. Once Marin and the rest of the cast arrive, strange things start happening almost immediately. We have odd sounds at night, unsettling symbols, and a diary that slowly sheds light on what happened on the island. When a medical emergency strands the whole cast and crew, people start disappearing again, and Marin has to figure out whether someone is deliberately sabotaging the production or whether the island’s supernatural history is repeating itself all over again.

Like I said, I ended up liking this one, even though for a really long stretch it felt like almost nothing was actually happening. I’d put the book down, pick it back up later, and realize I’d absorbed a ton of information without much actual plot movement. I stayed engaged the whole time regardless, but I would have liked my action. Once things finally started clicking into place and the real story behind the island came into focus, the pace picked up considerably and the second half moved a lot faster than the first.

I liked what Sager was going for thematically here, and the message underneath the mystery landed even though getting fully on board required suspending some disbelief along the way. Even with that, this was still a solid read overall, and I had a good time with it. If you’re a Riley Sager fan who doesn’t mind a slower build before the twists start landing, this is worth picking up.

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