The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater by Jaime Jo Wright

Barlowe Theater stole the life of Greta Mercy's brother during its construction. Now in 1915, the completed theater appears every bit as deadly. When Greta's younger brother goes missing after breaking into the building, Greta engages the assistance of a local police officer to help her uncover the already ghostly secrets of the theater. But when help comes from an unlikely source, Greta decides that to save her family she must put the threat of the phantoms to rest. Decades later, Kit Boyd's best friend vanishes during a ghost walk at the Barlowe Theater, and old stories of mysterious disappearances and ghoulish happenings are revived. When television ghost-hunting host and skeptic Evan Fisher engages Kit in the quest to identify the truth behind the theater's history, Kit reluctantly agrees to work with him in hopes of also finding out what happened to her friend. As the theater's curse begins to unravel Kit's own life, she sets out not only to save the historical building and her friend, but to end the pattern of evil that has marked their hometown for a century.

Wright consistently writes dual timeline novels better than anyone else I've read. Both timelines are fast-paced and filled with suspense--there's never one timeline that seems boring compared to the other. Instead, the timelines alternate from suspenseful moment to suspenseful moment. I also appreciate that no matter how weird events get, there is always a real-world explanation. Sure, there might be a psychic trailing Kit around with knowledge she shouldn't have, and Greta might be facing doubts to her sanity because she saw something no one else saw or believes, but there's always an explanation that doesn't rely on the supernatural. Always.

I love how the setting--Barlowe Theater--is nearly a character in its own right, hiding secrets in the past and present. The creepy old theater ties the two storylines together with its history of disappearances and aura of mystery. But it isn't only the setting that connects the timelines--Wright also does an excellent job with connecting them on a thematic level. A fear or reality in Kit's timeline is echoed in Greta's, and vice versa, increasing the sense that the two stories are intertwined. Excellent, as always!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.