Synopsis
Thirty years ago, on a warm July night, ten-year-old Ethan Marsh and his best friend, Billy Barringer, camped out in a tent in Ethan’s backyard on Hemlock Circle. By morning, Billy was gone—vanished without a trace after someone sliced open the tent in the dead of night. He was never seen again.
Now, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home, plagued by insomnia and haunted by memories he can’t quite piece together. But something about Hemlock Circle feels… off. Strange things keep happening in the middle of the night. Someone is prowling the cul-de-sac at odd hours. And eerie reminders of Billy’s disappearance begin appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is it a cruel trick? Or has Billy somehow come back?
Determined to uncover the truth, Ethan digs into the past, reconnecting with old neighbors and venturing into the dense woods that border Hemlock Circle—woods where Billy once swore monsters lurked and where a mysterious institute now conducts secretive research.
But the deeper Ethan searches, the more he realizes that no place—no matter how quiet or familiar—is ever truly safe. And the past never stays buried for long.
My Final Thoughts
I thought I knew what I was getting into when I started this book, but to my surprise, things didn’t play out the way I initially expected.
For starters, Hemlock Circle is your typical suburban cul-de-sac—a place where families move to escape the chaos of city life, give their kids space to grow and play, and enjoy the perks of good schools in a desirable neighborhood. It’s the picture-perfect ‘American Dream.’ But beneath the surface, this close-knit community is hiding more than just secret family recipes.
On a warm summer afternoon in 1994, Billy and Ethan are just two kids eager for adventure, determined to explore beyond their backyards and into the dense forest surrounding their neighborhood. But past the trees lies something even more intriguing: a road cutting through the landscape, and just beyond it, the eerie, imposing Hawthorne Institute. It’s unassuming yet undeniably sinister. Why wouldn’t they want to find out what goes on behind those walls?
That fateful day, a group of Hemlock Circle kids ventures too close to restricted land, and by the time the afternoon ends, Ethan and Billy’s friendship is irrevocably broken. But thirty years later, that doesn’t stop Ethan from doing everything in his power to uncover the truth behind Billy’s disappearance.
One baseball in the yard? A coincidence. Two baseballs? A pattern. But three? That’s a clear sign that someone—or something—in the woods is trying to get Ethan’s attention. Over the course of a few days, he retraces his steps from that summer afternoon in ’94. He scours the remains of the Hawthorne Institute for clues, revisits a book from their childhood that Billy loved, and even recreates their ill-fated backyard campout—pitching a similar tent and lying awake inside, staring at the fabric ceiling, hoping long-buried memories will finally surface.
There are a lot of characters to follow and a handful of side stories meant to trip you up. However, Sager’s writing is clever, weaving together past and present by using flashback scenes tied to whoever we last saw in the present timeline. For example, if a chapter ends in 2024 with Ethan talking about Mrs. Chen, the next chapter jumps back to 1994 with a scene from Mrs. Chen’s perspective. I loved that! It kept me engaged.
That being said, I did feel like the story dragged at times. Some side plots felt unnecessary—like Mrs. Marsh working at the Hawthorne Institute for all of two weeks, only for us to learn that Fritz was her “boss.” The moment Fritz only acknowledged Mrs. Marsh with pleasantries while barely acknowledging Mr. Marsh, I saw it coming. And honestly? I could’ve done without that whole subplot, along with the reason for Mrs. Marsh being fired.
Now, the final climax and reveal? A bit lackluster. I expected something either darker or more sinister, so while the twist wasn’t predictable, it also wasn’t particularly thrilling. Depending on how you like your mysteries, that could be a good or bad thing. Ashley and Henry? I didn’t see that reveal coming, but I knew Henry would be central to the climax. Just like I knew Vance Wallace wasn’t lying and wasn’t as “out of it” as his daughter wanted people to believe. And Russ Chen’s backstory? Clearly meant to throw readers off, but I wasn’t fooled by that one either.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it wasn’t mind-blowing either. Sager’s writing kept me engaged, and even with its flaws, I still had fun unraveling the mystery. This is the fourth book of his I’ve read, and it definitely won’t be the last.
Grief is weird that way. It can make you think things you shouldn’t be thinking. Or believe things that, deep down, you know are impossible.
whitneydaniell 
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