There is something very unsettling yet utterly compelling about this debut Australian novel set in a remote town in the US. Dusty and her sister Opi live with their father on a mountain that overlooks Black River. Their mother mysteriously left a few years earlier and they are still processing her absence from their lives. One day, Dusty wakes up with dirt on her feet and she doesn’t know how it got there. Nor does she know why she has incredible energy but doesn’t feel like eating, or why she now sees colours around people. And then there is her newfound desire for blood. 

Dusty begins a friendship with a boy, Will, in her class, but her new needs are very distracting. At a party, when sitting with Will, Dusty suddenly realises another boy who also lives on the mountain – whom she has hated forever – has the same desire for blood as her. She grabs him before he does something stupid and they disappear into the woods for two days, causing her family to panic.

What have they become? And what is happening on the mountain? These are the questions that keep the reader turning the pages long into the night and make for an exciting, spine-tingling thriller. For those who love their stories with a bit of magic, a smouldering romance, and oodles of tension, this debut is a winner for ages 14+.