When Devils Sing

Gr 10 Up–Gr 10 Up–A fabulous foursome takes on the titular devils in the remote Georgia town appropriately named Carrion, although they aren’t nearly as evil as some of their (in)human counterparts. Sam (a desperate, resigned Jennifer Pickens) makes the first bargain after a fatal car accident: “a lie for [her] brother’s life.” Neera (a still hopeful, blindly determined Anjali Kunapaneni) is next: her music for silence that could be called upon anytime. Reid (an achingly youthful Michael Crouch), the founding family’s youngest, plots his freedom just like his vanished mother. Harvard-bound Isaiah (an inquisitive, investigative Landon Woodson) is on his way out, but he can’t stop exposing Secrets of the South on his pseudonymous podcast. The quartet is bound by their various relationships with Dawson, a missing local boy presumed dead. But he’s left clues everywhere—and to find him is to uncover Carrion’s legacy of inescapable decay.