This review first appeared in Booklist on July 1, 2026.

Ever since the death of her sister, Jay, Junie Daniels has been holding things together through sheer stubbornness—paying the bills, planning her sister’s funeral, and caring for an increasingly withdrawn and depressed mother, which is more than any young person should have to handle. Then one day, Junie and her best friend, Omari, are in a less-welcoming corner of their southern county, tending to Jay’s grave, when they stumble upon something older and far more sinister than standard small-town prejudice: a cult of pale, ghostly women who follow the doctrine of the town’s slave-owning founder and who believe Junie possesses ancestral magic strong enough to raise the dead. What follows is a harrowing and unnerving ordeal rooted in the long, bloody history of racism in the U.S. Ellis delivers a distinctive creature feature told entirely through a Black lens that, despite its weighty themes, manages to retain a darkly humorous edge thanks to its sardonic, no-nonsense, unmistakably modern characters. Perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson’s young adult horror novels.