In Fox’s YA mystery, a teenager must piece together the truth behind her apparent suicide—and the events leading up to it—from beyond the grave. Sixteen-year-old Nicole Benson wakes up confused and disoriented on a bright platform floating in an abyss, surrounded by a group of kids her age and younger, many of whom have horrific injuries that disappear soon after she sees them. They’re taken to “Substation Fifteen,” where they are welcomed and assigned mentors to support and guide them as they prepare for “The Evaluation,” which they must pass in order to move on to their next destination. Nicole’s mentor, Grace, explains that Nicole is dead and that Substation Fifteen is for those who have died by suicide. (“Lemon-yellow lights illuminate a larger area. ‘This is the simulation center devoted to viewing memory projections.’ We’d better get YouTube and Netflix or I’m definitely leaving.”) Though Nicole comes to remember falling to her death, she can’t recall the events leading up to it…but she’s absolutely certain that she didn’t do it on purpose. Sure, her life wasn’t perfect: Her mother died when she was a baby, she’s insecure about her looks, and the object of her infatuation, Alex Traynor, is dating her frenemy, Cassie Church. Still, Nicole knows that she didn’t kill herself. As the 30-day countdown to The Evaluation ticks by, Nicole begins to master skills, like entering the dreams of her loved ones, telekinesis, astral traveling, and even materializing before the living. In doing so, she starts to reclaim her memories from her final day. Fox’s captivating mystery explores adolescent friendships, betrayals, and suicide with cleverness and an abundance of compassion. The characters are well developed, distinctive, and compelling. (Nicole, a gifted singer-songwriter, guitar player, and actor, is sympathetic and relatable; she’s also judgmental and a bit conniving.) Readers will enjoy the author’s imaginative worldbuilding and exploration of the supernatural and will be especially enthralled by the dizzying twists and turns as the circumstances surrounding Nicole’s death are revealed. A compassionate exploration of friendship and betrayal wrapped up in a true page-turning mystery.

Fox (author of Leeta Simtar) explores teen angst, the power of friendship, and the spirit world in this redemptive supernatural drama. Sixteen-year-old Nicole Benson wakes up in the hereafter on a floating platform that ushers her to Substation 15, where those who died by suicide rest, reflect, and prepare for the Evaluation before they can move on. Although she’s unable to remember what really happened at the party on the day she died, Nicole is adamant she did not kill herself. Her Mentor, Grace, tells Nicole that she must collect evidence surrounding her death so she can pass her Evaluation in 30 days. Nicole uses unearthly tools, such as a Life-Streamer, to observe her living friends on Earth in California, and dream tours that let her enter people’s dreams and communicate with them. Written in intimate, inviting voices, with content appropriate for young high school readers, the story chronicles Nicole’s journey of discovery, told from the first-person points of view of Nicole and her mortal friends. Nicole’s conviction that she would not have taken her own life compels, and the rest of the cast engages as they face secrets, discoveries, and themselves: Cassie realizes that her boyfriend, Alex, had a relationship with Nicole, and thinks “A girl I know killed herself, and I’m pretty sure I had something to do with it.” Isabel (“Iz”), Nicole’s best friend, is a witch who speaks with spirits and makes contact with Nicole through her Ouija board, saying “Nothing will ever be right again until I tell Nic the truth and make amends.” Looming over all of this humane drama is the mystery of how Nicole died. Fox handles it with sensitivity and warmth while accurately capturing teenage obsession, jealousy, self-doubt, incessant comparisons with peers, and the complexities of group acceptance versus feeling ostracized and self-doubt. Inventive scenes of dream touring are exciting, though tension over the puzzle of Nicole’s death loses some momentum among the subplots, perspective changes, and intense everyday concerns. Still, the touching treatment of teenage priorities and the value of life and friendship is rewarding. Takeaway: From the spirit world, a teenager contacts the living to learn why she died. Comparable Titles: Gabrielle Zevin’s Elsewhere, Judy Sheehan’s I Woke Up Dead at the Mall.