The Lost
Lost. It’s not just a state of being, but an actual place, as Lauren Chase discovers when she drives into the dinky town after being all but consumed by a dust storm. Lauren also quickly realizes that Lost is not a normal place. There are abandoned houses everywhere, and children running rampant through the streets. When Lauren attempts to leave, she finds herself going in circles in the dust storm that seems to continually surround the town. Determined to escape, Lauren goes to the local diner to try and get some answers. She is told that only the Missing Man can send her home once she finds what she has lost. Confused and frustrated, Lauren must figure out how to survive in this town full of misfits and broken and discarded items. How will she make it home if she doesn’t even know what to look for? In her highly imaginative and jarring adult debut, YA star Durst (Vessel, 2012) pushes readers out of their comfort zones and into a slow-brewing, increasingly exciting, and deeply provocative fantasy world. --Patricia Smith