This review first appeared in Booklist on September 1, 2025.
Hazel Perez thinks the worst part of her latest school project is being grouped with her ex–best friend, Becca. But then a research trip to their chosen subject—the long-abandoned Oakwell Farms School for Girls—ends with Hazel falling through a roof. She wakes up in the hospital with a broken arm, a concussion, and a ghostly hitchhiker. An angry, vengeful spirit has latched onto her, and it’s threatening to take over. Desperate to break free, Hazel starts digging into the Farm’s past, soon uncovering decades of unspeakable abuse by the men who ran the place unchecked. With help from family, renewed friendships, and budding romance, Hazel works to expose the Farm’s cruel history, hoping to restore the voices of silenced women and bring peace to the restless spirits that were left behind. Blending supernatural suspense with harrowing historical fact, Wallach shines a scathing spotlight on the deeply disturbing troubled-teen industry through a haunting tale of justice and grief, where the true terror lies not in the ghosts but in the atrocities that created them.
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