Alison Ames' debut novel To Break a Covenant is one of the scarier books I've read in a long time! A cozy beginning of friendships and sisterhood makes the reader comfortable and engaged...until all hell breaks loose (literally?!). Set in a coal-mining town in Colorado, something wicked is playing mind games with the local residents, drawing them into an insidious mine where an explosion killed miners. None of their bodies were found. Dark tourism is common in the town of Moon Basin, and the book has several recordings of residents' experiences throughout, making this one hard to put down! When one of the girls' dads goes missing in the mine, our quartet of characters travel to the depths together but will they survive? Whatever you do, don't read this before bed.Publisher's description:
Moon Basin has been haunted for as long as anyone can remember. It started when an explosion in the mine killed sixteen people. The disaster made it impossible to live in town, with underground fires spewing ash into the sky. But life in New Basin is just as fraught. The ex-mining town relies on its haunted reputation to bring in tourists, but there's more truth to the rumors than most are willing to admit, and the mine still has a hold on everyone who lives there.
Clem and Nina form a perfect loop--best friends forever, and perhaps something more. Their circle opens up for a strange girl named Lisey with a knack for training crows, and Piper, whose father is fascinated with the mine in a way that's anything but ordinary. The people of New Basin start experiencing strange phenomena--sleepwalking, night terrors, voices that only they can hear. And no matter how many vans of ghost hunters roll through, nobody can get to the bottom of what's really going on. Which is why the girls decide to enter the mine themselves.