About

After her mother’s death, Guest leaves California and moves to Kettle Springs, Missouri, to live with her father. She arrives in a town completely different from anything she’s ever known, surrounded by cornfields, old houses, and people who have lived there their entire lives. Guest quickly meets Cole, Janet, Tucker, Matt, and Ronnie, becoming involved with the group and the growing tension between Kettle Springs’ teenagers and adults. But then there’s Rust. Rust is a local boy who keeps mostly to himself. He’s rough around the edges, country, and more comfortable out in the fields than surrounded by people. He isn’t part of Guest’s new friend group, but living next door means their paths keep crossing. At first, their conversations are brief and awkward. Eventually, though, Guest starts seeing a different side of him, and an unexpected connection begins to form between them. Then Frendo returns. When the town’s annual celebration turns into a nightmare and Frendo begins hunting the teenagers, Guest is thrown into the middle of the violence. Rust becomes one of the few people outside her friend group she can turn to as Kettle Springs descends into chaos. With Frendo stalking the cornfields and the town tearing itself apart, Guest and Rust are forced closer together as they fight to survive the night.