The Casual Vacancy (2012)

Set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, The Calamity Club follows three unlikely allies—an outspoken orphan, a sharp-witted bookkeeper, and a resilient local—as they uncover dark institutional secrIn The Unknown, suspense veteran Riley Sager (The Only One Left) deploys his characteristic penchant for the uncanny with mixed atmospheric effect. The premise unfolds thusly: In 1926, the constituents of a remote Vermont island commune dedicated to spirit mediums vanished without a trace, leaving behind only five dresses suspended from a single bough. A century later, a cinematic production unit arrives to dramatize the unsolved enigma—whereupon esoteric carvings materialize, and the customary unraveling ensues. Sager remains a practiced hand at orchestrating high-concept genre mechanics. Readers would do well to steel themselves for the inevitable reversals. In The Unknown, suspense veteran Riley Sager (The Only One Left) deploys his characteristic penchant for the uncanny with mixed atmospheric effect. The premise unfolds thusly: In 1926, the constituents of a remote Vermont island commune dedicated to spirit mediums vanished without a trace, leaving behind only five dresses suspended from a single bough. A century later, a cinematic production unit arrives to dramatize the unsolved enigma—whereupon esoteric carvings materialize, and the customary unraveling ensues. Sager remains a practiced hand at orchestrating high-concept genre mechanics. Readers would do well to steel themselves for the inevitable reversals.