Brief

Delia and Kurtis are two brothers from a wealthy NY family. Their seemingly perfect lives change once they meet Caleb, a strange guy living across their summer house by the lake. As the siblings find out Caleb is an evil spirit gaining more power over their lives, tragic deaths begin to take place and cannot be stopped.

What We Liked

The most special thing about this narrative is related to the process of a spiritual force gaining power over the lives of two siblings who are young, attractive, wealthy and have their journeys ahead of them to enjoy and be happy - and how this entity changes the whole course of their lives and make their destinies quite tragic.

Film: It would also be a great adaptation for TV as narrative is able to keep audience's attention and the author isn't scared to build up tragic happenings or a happy solution to it.

TV: It would be a good adaptation for TV because, even though both characters may seem to have come out of a wealthy teenage series episode, their dark sides appear slowly and tragic events with important characters are able to keep the audience hooked.

Key points: Narrative is scary; mysteries are revealed as audience grows fond of characters; dear characters die during the narrative; protagonist is vulnerable and relatable; wealthy scenarios.

Synopsis

Delia is a lonely woman approaching her 40's who only has superficial relationships with people. She then begins to remember her life as an introspective teenager whose social life was tied to her outgoing younger sibling, the handsome Kurtis. Kurtis is living his sexuality freely, with many girls and also older women, Delia is still a virgin trying to find a way out of her shyness. Their lives, though, change when their wealthy NY family - the mother and the father, as Delia calls them - buys a house by the lake where they decide to spend the summer. That's where they meet Caleb, a weird guy who lives in a creepy house around the lake with his allegedly grandmother and only hangs out with them occasionally and during the night.

Even though Caleb is not necessarily handsome, he begins to exert a supernatural power over the minds of Delia and Kurtis, and Delia feels deeply attracted to him. But weird things begin to happen with both of them - hallucinations, nightmares - and Kurtis shows a bit of aggressiveness and Delia is under constant stress. Both of them begin to abuse substances in order to keep their minds in place as Caleb spiritually gaslights both of them. Delia then meets Dean, a charming good guy who she is also attracted to, but after a few dates and kisses, Dean mysteriously dies in a car accident. As the siblings begin to talk about what's going on in the minds of both of them, they realize Caleb is an evil force and to understand it all, they look for Mr. Samuels, an old and smart man who knows everything about their neighborhood. Delia then decides to look for Joseph Archer, who was supposed to be Caleb's father, and finds out Caleb is actually his deceased brother and his spirit is living by his house haunting their mother.

As they have a spiritual duel - Delia, Kurtis, Myra, Joseph and Caleb - the house is set on fire and Kurtis and Delias' parents die. Delia, Kurtis and Joseph manage to escape the fire and survive to get on with their lives. Kurtis got on with his life, became a writer and a teacher, but was unable to overcome the relationship he had with that spirit, and keeps fighting to protect Delia from him. Kurtis kills himself and justifies his death as trying to keep Delia safe from the spiritual world. After Kurtis' death, Delia sells their parent's lake house - which Kurtis continued visiting - and when she goes back there to seal the deal, she sees Kurtis and Caleb by the window. This is when Delia understands why Kurtis had to go to the other side: to control Caleb and protect other people from the same tragic destiny.

About The Author

Dee Remy was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. She was an avid reader at a very young age. She began writing poetry and graduated to short stories. This is her first published novel. She has a children's book and is currently working on her second novel.