This is book one of the Chindi series and relates a bit of the Native Indian Chindi legend in a modern day storyline. The start of the book is set in 1972, when two young cousins, MayAnn and Ester, sneak out at night to check out their grandfather’s scary tale, only for them to be attacked and pulled away from each other. Next, it is 2015 and the focus is on a senior at the start of the new school year, Jo (real first name Ryleigh), who lost her boyfriend of two years, Bryce, just under a year ago, when they were attacked out at a local spot, the overlook. Nobody believed her story of what happened and she has lost nearly all her friends and even her parents bailed on her and her brother Tyler, over all of this. Kirk, Bryce’s brother, has always blamed her for his brother’s death and this makes going back to school even harder.
Even Jo’s brother wants her to see a counsellor, as he thinks she needs to get some help to recover from what happened last year, as he can see how she has been struggling. Facing all the taunts as she goes back to school don’t help and then there is a new boy, Cooper, to contend with who seems to have a fascination with her. Homecoming night is the one year anniversary of Bryce’s death and his brother Kirk is going to have a memorial party at the overlook. Jo hides out nearby to try and keep the others safe, but no-one believes her and they fail to run, when the ghost of Bryce tells her to run and she sees the strange shape she saw last year. Another girl dies, but it is put down as a misstep over the cliff!
It seems no one in town wants to admit that anything is wrong, or do anything about it, apart from the new boy Cooper and his sister. He is a ghost hunter or chaser and calls the thing she saw attack Bryce, a chindi or ghost, a name from the Navajo days. He has come to town to hunt this chindi and she seems to be the only person in town that can actually see it. He says that this particular ghost is a nukpana and is a dangerous evil spirit, which they need to be wary of. Cooper and his sister, Jada, are all set up to battle this evil spirit, but they also have to battle with a coven that exists to keep this evil spirit fed and for them to gain power from it. A bit like the brothers in Supernatural, the TV series, going out to battle against evil, having been raised as hunters. A town with many secrets and a coven that wanted to keep it that way. An interesting read with one teen having to face daily taunts and loss, but managing to overcome all of this and save the town. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.