Scott Carson. Atria/Bestler, $28.99 (448p) ISBN 978-1-9821-9145-0

Carson (Where They Wait) evokes the best of Stephen King in this exceptional coming-of-age tale about a young man confronting the supernatural menace that’s taken root in his hometown. In 1999 Bloomington, Ind., 16-year-old Marshall Miller gets pulled over by a cop on the same day he gets his driver’s license. While he’s waiting for a ticket, he notices a frightened teenage girl in the backseat of the officer’s car. Weeks later, Marshall spots the girl’s face on a missing person poster: her name is Meredith Sullivan, and she disappeared on the same day that Marshall was pulled over. He reports his encounter to law enforcement and discovers that the man who ticketed him was only impersonating a police officer. Determined to help find her, Marshall seeks out Noah Storm, the PI attached to Meredith’s case, who’s so impressed with the boy’s attention to detail that he offers Marshall an informal internship as his assistant. During their search, Marshall experiences strange recurring dreams, frequent snake sightings, and other seemingly unexplainable phenomena. The episodes gradually lead him to believe something ghostly has come to Bloomington, and it may be his job to stop it. Carson masterfully weaves threads about Marshall’s home and school life into the tantalizing central mystery, and populates the narrative’s margins with fully realized characters who help bring the setting to vivid life. This unique and intelligent crowd-pleaser is not to be missed. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (Mar.)