THE SENIOR YEAR NO ONE EXPECTED

“It grabbed hold and kept me turning the pages until I finished.” Goodreads review

Teenage girls are turning up dead in the Northern California town of Hillside. They are blonde, seventeen, and they have been burned to death.

Samantha Reyes is a Hillside High School senior and the co-editor of her school’s newspaper, The Clarion. When a girl is discovered burned to death in the school bathroom, Samantha is determined to get to the bottom of it.

At a local police press conference, Samantha plucks up the courage to ask the police chief whether spontaneous combustion is being considered as a cause. Samantha’s question is caught on camera and goes viral.

Furious, the school principal accuses Samantha and her co-editor Alfie Marquez of sensationalism and threatens the future of The Clarion. But Samantha is determined to solve the mystery behind the spate of murders, even if it means the paper gets shut down.

For a start, Samantha knows there has been an outbreak of appliance fires around Hillside, beginning with the death of the first girl.

There’s also the curious history of the Wirth Mansion, a local landmark with a dark past and a reputation as a haunted house. And on top of that, Samantha’s blonde, seventeen-year-old best friend Destiny is starting to behave strangely.

Battling to follow her investigative instincts, keep The Clarion alive, and protect her friend from a horrible fate, Samantha starts to see a pattern in the deaths. All too soon, she and her friends are drawn into a world of supernatural danger, and not even the police can protect them.

Has Samantha’s investigation led her to a foe she can’t fight? Or is the key to the mystery closer than she first imagined?

“I totally devoured this….the Box in the Cuts was a total page-turner for me.” Goodreads review

"Once I started this book, I could not put it down." Goodreads review

"The characters are so lifelike and realistic, and I felt like I was right there with them.” Goodreads review

"Samantha was believable, relatable, and reliable." Goodreads review