Pulling off a high-concept novel is tricky, but Marisha Pessl makes it look easy in Neverworld Wake. Five friends return to a seaside estate one year after the mysterious death of one of their own. With their evening already awkward, the last thing they need is a knock on the door from a stranger who informs them that they're stuck in time, and the only way for them to ever move forward is for them to choose one among them to live, while the other four must die.