A young man is drawn into the dark side of paradise in this "brilliantly atmospheric" (New York Times Book Review) and "refreshingly creepy" (Washington Post) mystery.
A New York Times Notable Book of 2022
On a whim, Grady Kendall applies to work as a live-in caretaker for a luxury property in Hawaiʻi, as far from his small-town Maine life as he can imagine. Within days he's flying out to an estate on remote Hokuloa Road, where he quickly uncovers a dark side to the island’s idyllic reputation: it has long been a place where people vanish without a trace.
When a young woman from his flight becomes the next to disappear, Grady is determined—and soon desperate—to figure out what's happened to Jessie, and to all those staring out of the island’s “missing" posters. But working with Raina, Jessie’s fiercely protective best friend, to uncover the truth is anything but easy, and with an inexplicable and sinister presence stalking his every step, Grady can only hope he'll find the answer before it's too late.
Perfect for fans of Peter Heller and
The White Lotus, and from award-winning writer Elizabeth Hand, a master of crime fiction known for her magnetic characters, seductive prose, and fearless excavations into the darkest corners of our world, comes a chilling and illuminating new novel about a place unlike any other—and the deadly cost of keeping it so.
"Set in a Hawaii so vividly imagined I'm still shaking sand out of my shoes."—Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group
“Twisty and dark . . . easily one of the best thrillers I've read.” —Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs
“This is the perfect book for your summer beach bag—an evocative mystery set in a tropical island paradise.” —Jason Rekulak, author of Hidden Pictures Industry Reviews
"A hair-raising, mind-bending trip... Exquisitely suspenseful, and the paranoia suffusing the story is very much of our present moment."--BookPage (starred review), on The Book of Lamps and Banners
"Cass Neary is a remarkable heroine. As with Sherlock Holmes, her power lies in the act of seeing what ordinary people cannot, only where Holmes brings clues to light, Neary is content to linger in the dark. Her eye catches the liminal spaces between clarity and shadow so well I found myself rereading passages for the beauty of her way of seeing."--New York Times Book Review, on The Book of Lamps and Banners
"It's hard to imagine a more perfect novel than The Book of Lamps and Banners . . . Elizabeth Hand has delivered a startling book that is dirty, wise, aching, and almost magical. Hand expertly marries muscular prose to sophisticated detail, resulting in an enviably smart, fearless novel that conjures demons, evokes an immediate sense of place, and summons the surreal."--Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women, on The Book of Lamps and Banners
"The ancient manuscript at the center of The Book of Lamps and Banners is as kaleidoscopic, dark, and mysterious as Hand's amateur sleuth. This novel is a jaw-punch, written with a snarling grace."--Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin atthe End of the World, on The Book of Lamps and Banners
