Sam is an orphan boy growing up in a town full of rumors. The most disturbing one: the disappearance of his mother’s body after a car accident years ago. What seems like a simple local mystery turns into something much darker, with supernatural and extraterrestrial connections. Among sinister legends and hidden secrets, Federico Axat delivers a novel with the unsettling essence of Stephen King and an exciting coming-of-age story.
In the 1980s, in the fictional town of Carnival Falls, Sam Jackson is an orphan living in a foster home. He doesn’t know what happened to his mother, Christina. He knows they were in a car accident when he was a baby, but her body was never found. In fact, when the ambulance arrived, there was no trace of her. During the summer, when the story begins and Sam is on the brink between childhood and adolescence, a rich girl his age named Miranda moves to town. Sam is struck by her beauty and wants to get close to her. As he does, he begins to have dreams about what really happened during the accident. He sees how his mother was dragged out of the car while lights shone in the sky, and then she just vanished. His mother is not the only person who has disappeared in the town.
Sam, along with his best friend Billy and the newly arrived Miranda, begin investigating what happened and discover that disappearances in the town are a recurring event. Several locals have vanished forever into the woods. Most residents have always blamed it on coincidence, but others suspect the disappearances are connected. One of them is Richard Banks, who fears it might be due to extraterrestrials. He has developed several theories and even a video of lights in the sky that he claims proves his theory.
While searching for answers, the bond between the three grows naturally in line with their age: both Sam and Billy are attracted to Miranda, but she feels a stronger connection with Sam. The three of them make a pact of friendship at the most magical place in town: the Butterfly Swamp.
After many twists in their investigation, moving closer to and further from supernatural theories, questioning neighbors and checking old newspapers, Miranda catches her father burning a photograph. She pulls it from the fire before it’s completely destroyed and sees Sam’s mother in the image. Confronting her father, Preston, she discovers he had a relationship with Sam’s mother, one that had to be hidden due to the class difference between them: he was from a wealthy family, and she was poor. The relationship resulted in Sam’s birth. When he learned Christina had an accident, he quickly arrived at the scene, took the baby, buried the body so no one could connect them, and left Carnival Falls.
Miranda sees how remorseful her father is and decides not to tell her friends what she discovered. They feel betrayed and distance themselves from her. However, when Sam is attacked by a jealous boy from the foster home, Miranda arrives just in time to defend him. There, she apologizes to Sam for everything and chooses to support him in revealing the truth. At least now Sam knows where his mother’s remains lie.
In the epilogue, many years later, when the characters are in their 40s, Sam returns to Carnival Falls. In his reunion with Billy, he learns the town is much quieter, although people still occasionally disappear in the woods. They also talk about Miranda, who apparently began dealing with schizophrenia in her teenage years and is now in a mental health facility.
Although everything seems to have been clarified, the friends still wonder if there was something supernatural behind the lights Sam saw or Richard Banks’ theories. But without settling on a single answer, the author suggests that everyone choose the one that brings them the most peace. Sam now feels much better about himself, having accepted many things he didn’t dare before.
And that’s the big final twist: Sam has always been short for Samantha, and throughout the novel, the protagonist was a girl, though we naturally assumed it was a boy, as the author never specified the gender. This now allows us to reevaluate everything from the perspective of a girl who hadn’t accepted her sexual orientation, feeling attracted to Miranda, not to a boy, in a time when homosexuality was just starting to be normalized, but very slowly. Now, many years later, having embraced herself and her past, she has the courage to shape the future she wants.
RELEVANT INFORMATION: The Butterfly Swamp is a novel inspired by 80s movies, Stephen King novels, or Shyamalan films like The Sixth Sense. It could be seen as a more grounded Stranger Things, as the supernatural element is only speculated upon.
Federico Axat masterfully combines a mystery plot with a coming-of-age story, while also introducing themes that were just beginning to be recognized, such as non-heteronormative sexual identity.
As with all the author’s novels, it stands out for its unexpected twists and gripping narrative. This has made Axat one of the top contemporary thriller authors, with his work published in over 25 languages.
Critics and reviews say:
“A great character-driven novel with an epilogue that will hit like a slap and leave us stunned, making us rethink everything we’ve read.” – De Lector a Lector
“The novel, which except for a few scenes could be considered young adult, combines adventure and intrigue equally and keeps the reader’s attention.” – Quélibroleo.com
“Of all the books I’ve read in my life, […] this one has the most unexpected and surprising ending of all.” – Goodreads
AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV series, Miniseries, Film, TV Movie.
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese.
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