Book cover of The Ascent

Book description

What would you do if the past showed up on your doorstep?

A woman who grew up in a cult must decide if she can trust the stranger claiming to have answers to the dark mysteries of her childhood in “a standout thriller with something deeper on its mind: how…


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Why read it?

1 author picked The Ascent as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The story hooked me from the first page. The premise--a twelve-year-old girl is the only one in a cult who has not vanished, who then spends her entire life trying to understand what happens--is absolutely engrossing. Buccola is a natural at understated but extremely tense conflict both within and outside a character. I tore through this book wanting to find out what happened to the cult. Plus, I love books about cults and what they do to people.

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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