Dead of Summer

By Jessa Maxwell

Book Overview

Years after her best friend mysteriously disappeared from a remote New England island, a young woman returns in search of answers in this atmospheric and scintillating thriller from Jessa Maxwell, nationally bestselling author of the "deliciously entertaining" (Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon.

Orla O'Connor hasn't been to the isolated New England enclave of Hadley Island since she graduated from high school a decade ago. As a teenager, her best friend Alice disappeared from its shores without a trace--but with plenty of rumors.

Now, Orla returns to her family's beachfront home to clean it out before her parents sell it. The island and her best friend's house next door, abandoned after her family left in grief, are stirring up memories she would like to avoid. Then there are the locals, always gossiping and watching Orla's every move. Worst of all, David, Orla's childhood crush and son of a wealthy Manhattan family, is back for the summer with his new, impossibly pretty girlfriend, Faith.

Faith suspects that David is going to propose but as soon as she settles into his family's sprawling Hadley Island estate, she feels out of place. She anticipated a luxurious summer of fun and romance, but David is never around--lured into business conversations with his entrepreneur father from dawn to dusk. With nothing else to do, Faith begins to investigate the island's dark past, curious about what really happened to Alice all those years ago.

Meanwhile, local Henry hasn't left his house since the young girl went missing, in an attempt to let the accusations against him die down. Except they never have. For years, Henry has had an endless supply of time to pursue his only hobby, watching the island from his telescope and recording the activities of its inhabitants. But Orla's return has shaken him and lately he's been seeing strange things: shadowy figures walking on the beach in the middle of the night and a light on in the upstairs window of the long-abandoned house of the missing girl.

When there's another disappearance on the island, all three find themselves pulled into an eerie and twisty mystery that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1668070391
• ISBN13: 9781668070390
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Dark summer ahead!

It was a nicely quick summer dark book to read. With short chapters and three view points (Faith, Orla, and Henry) that gave a good wide range view of the mysteries that happened on Hadley Island with the missing and the supposedly drowned girls, amid lavish parties and many summer tourists that visit each year. Props for the eerie setting (the abandoned houses, giant empty mansion, Henry's hobby with his telescope and of course rich older men that are slightly off) and the isolation of the island where some might think they can get away with anything if they have enough money. I can't say I was surprised by how it turned out but it still made for a fun read that I sped through for the satisfaction of an ending where wrongs are righted and maybe this time the missing girl could be saved and the correct people punished. So, if you are looking for an interesting quick read, then this book would be a good choice and certainly would get you in the mood for summer, though hopefully without any bodies or big crimes committed.