Struggling actress Marin Keane is shocked when she lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery of New Avalon, an island on sprawling Lake Faraday in Vermont. She’s even more surprised when she learns that the role requires a weeklong research trip to that very spot.
Because New Avalon isn’t your ordinary island. A century ago, it was a commune for spiritual mediums—until they all vanished in 1926. The only trace of them was five dresses hanging from the branches of an old oak tree in the middle of the island, one for each missing woman. Some locals say they simply left. Others think they were murdered. But the prevailing opinion, thanks to a diary left behind by one of the vanished, a young woman named Daisy Rue, is that a séance gone wrong conjured something supernatural that took them all one by one.
Not long after arriving, Marin and her castmates, including legendary actress Violet Wright and white-hot director Ronan Peters, begin to realize all is not right with New Avalon. They hear strange noises in the night and notice mysterious symbols left behind by the island's previous occupants. And after a sudden health emergency leaves Marin, Ronan, and the other actors stranded on the island, the disappearances begin again.
Is it the work of someone trying to derail the movie? Or is the island’s alleged supernatural past catching up with the present? As fear and suspicion mount, Marin turns to Daisy’s diary, hoping it holds the key to figuring out what really happened to the women of New Avalon—and how to keep the island’s terrible history from repeating itself.
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published August 4, 2026
by Dutton
3.75/5 stars
Riley Sager's first couple of books, Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied, had me hooked, I've been chasing that feeling with each new release since. One thing I can always count on is that he picks unique themes, The Unknown, is no exception. This time he leans more into Gothic territory than anything I've read from him.
Marin Keane is an actress who has spent her career waiting for a break, so landing a lead role in a major film feels almost too good to be true. The movie is based on a mystery from 1926, when five women living a remote island in Vermont disappear. It has remained unsolved, oh and the island was home to a commune of spiritual mediums. And to get a real sense of the locations the famous director insists the cast live on the island for five days mimicking the characters they are to play. Cut off from the outside world things start to happen, playing the part and living it starts to blur together.
Marin Keane is an actress who has spent her career waiting for a break, so landing a lead role in a major film feels almost too good to be true. The movie is based on a mystery from 1926, when five women living a remote island in Vermont disappear. It has remained unsolved, oh and the island was home to a commune of spiritual mediums. And to get a real sense of the locations the famous director insists the cast live on the island for five days mimicking the characters they are to play. Cut off from the outside world things start to happen, playing the part and living it starts to blur together.
This was a fast paced read, it moves between Marin in the present day and a diary written by one of the women in 1926. The island setting is atmospheric, especially the séance scenes, the premise of a film crew recreating a century-old disappearance is a clever one. Once the pace of the story shifted so did my reading pace.
That said, though this one didn't recapture the magic of his early books for me, it's still a book I will recommend for the mystery, suspense, supernatural vibes and Gothic feel. There are twists, ghosty vibes and a fitting conclusion.
My copy obtained via CloudLibrary.
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