Neverworld Wake
★★★☆
For her first YA novel, the “Night Film” author combines “Groundhog Day” storytelling with upper-crust kids behaving badly for twisty suspense. It has been a year since Beatrice Hartley last saw her best pals from the prestigious Darrow-Harker School – and a year since the mysterious death of her boyfriend Jim broke apart this crew of cool kids. Now a year after they graduated, Beatrice travels to the coastal estate Wincroft where the friends used to hang out, and a night of awkward reconnection and a tragic accident leads to an otherworldly twist: The group is told by a strange old man named The Keeper that they are caught in a time splinter and only one of them can live to see tomorrow. The catch: They have to vote for who survives, and it has to be unanimous. Old grudges, bad feelings and major-league revelations come to the fore. While the plot meanders in the middle as the friends figure stuff out, the moody beginning and the satisfying climax make this a solid piece of surprising sci-fi.