Together We Rot
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A teen girl looking for the truth about her missing mother forms a reluctant alliance with her former best friend...in exchange for hiding him from his cult-leading family.
“All hail the new queen of YA horrormance! Arndt’s unputdownable debut crackles with wit and seethes with terrors just beneath the surface. Equal parts tender and grisly, Together We Rot will sink its roots into you.”—Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic
Wil Greene and Elwood Clarke used to be inseparable. That was before she accused his family of killing her mother.
These days, Wil obsessively gathers not-so-legal evidence on her mom’s disappearance while she and her checked-out dad try to make ends meet at their failing motel. They’re a hair’s breadth away from foreclosure, and the powerful Clarkes have their eye on the property.
Elwood has been counting down the days until winter break. He hasn’t told anyone he won’t be coming back to school to finish out senior year—his pastor father is training him to lead their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But after one last night out with his friends, he comes face-to-face with a more chilling fate. He’s not his father’s successor . . . but his sacrifice.
Now on the run, Elwood knows Wil is his only hope. Together, they must dig up the truth about her mom and the Garden of Adam. But what they don’t know is that Elwood harbors another monstrous secret, growing deep inside him. Can Wil save the boy she can’t help but fall for?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former best friends Wilhelmina Green and Elwood Clarke must work together to save their small Michigan town from a terrifying religious cult in Arndt's spine-chilling debut. Teenage Wil's mother has been missing for over a year. Though local police insist that she skipped town, Wil is certain there's something sinister at play. Her solo investigation leads her to believe that the Garden of Adam, a religious organization run by her town's most influential family, has something to do with her mother's disappearance. Seventeen-year-old Elwood, meanwhile, has been doing his best to live up to his preacher father's expectations, especially knowing that he's expected to leave school at 18 and take up his father's mantle as the head of the Garden of Adam. But when Elwood discovers that his parents intend to sacrifice him to a mysterious entity in his town's surrounding woods, he flees. Wil agrees to hide him in exchange for help in proving that the Garden of Adam is responsible for her mother's vanishment. A meandering plot is buoyed by likable supporting characters, Wil and Elwood's snappy banter, and eerie, brooding atmosphere. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–up.
