That was an absolutely wild ride that I wish I could do all over again. Lost Girls of Hollow Lake is a fantastic addition to the emerging YA horror-thriller genre. I’m generally pretty proud of the fact that horror doesn’t get to me and that it takes a lot to get under my skin, but this book REALLY got to me at some points. The gore descriptions were especially potent and made me squirm in a way no other book has. There’s one scene later on in the story that I had to read through squinted eyes as if it were a movie I needed to watch through my fingers, and I love that I had such a strong reaction. The lore and legend surrounding the island the girls were stranded on were so deeply unsettling that I felt a sense of genuine dread whenever I’d get to a point in the novel where it was time to learn more about it. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the island itself was very much the main character, which is why its history and mythology were so alluring. Additionally, I loved the point-of-view character, Evie, and had a lot of fun inside her head. She’s so funny in this biting, caustic way that endeared me to her very quickly. And the sapphic relationship that blooms within the terror is beautiful and complicated and filled with the perfect amount of yearning–not too much, not too little. Finally, the mystery entwined with the dread and terror was so effective. I was turning pages so quickly that I’d glance at the page numbers and wonder where 70 pages went. Even though I’d say the story overall falls more in line with horror than mystery, the back-and-forth between whodunnit and “what the heck happened on that island???” was gripping. An absolutely stellar debut perfect for anyone who loves to stay up late and scare themselves silly with ghost stories that blend seamlessly into nightmares.
Lost Girls of Hollow Lake by Rebekah Faubion, (List Price: $19.99, Delacorte Press, 9780593900437, January 2026)
Reviewed by Abigail, E. Shaver, Booksellers in Savannah, Georgia
