While the Forest Burns

by Xan Kaur

New York Times-bestselling author Xan Kaur's eerie paranormal mystery for fans of Stranger Things, X-Files, and Twin Peaks, follows two teens stationed in isolated fire lookout towers who investigate disappearances and uncover a conspiracy that connects them in ways far more dangerous―and intimate―than they ever expected.

Secrets lay buried in the pines.

“You deserve to know the truth of things," are the final, cryptic words Archie Bajwa’s beloved neighbor Jean says before she dies―and after two mysterious men in black appear at Jean’s door. Grieving and desperate to uncover secrets about Jean’s past, Archie takes a fire lookout job in a remote Florida forest, the same place where her own father went missing years ago. While looking for the truth, she finds something far more dangerous.

Miles away, Cameron Clarke is burying his father, a man forever changed by the horrors of war. But when government agents arrive demanding his father’s body for “research,” Cameron knows something is terribly wrong. Fleeing his grief and searching for answers, he too disappears into the wilderness of Eden National Forest.

As strange reports surface―a missing hiker, eerie lights moving through the blackwater swamp, radios warped by unexplained interference―Archie and Cameron discover each other through distant radio signals, bound by a connection too powerful to be chance. As they begin to uncover a long-buried government experiment hidden beneath the pines, they’ll face a choice that could cost one of them everything.

Expected publication May 18, 2027

About the author

Xan Kaur is a Punjabi-American author who grew up in rural Georgia, where there were more gnats than people. Her debut novel is When Devils Sing, an instant New York Times and national Indie bestseller. When not writing, you can find her behind a camera or swimming in the nearest ocean.

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