Home Series (West)

From Book 1: Warning cliffhangers and jaw-droppers ahead! Perfect for fans of The Leftovers, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Gone Girl...a chilling pause-resister with delicious dialogue and  a plot that creeps and crawls! Home, Syd West’s twisted thriller series, will get under your skin!

Chadwick has the world at his fingertips. An elite editor in Manhattan's publishing world. A hot and heavy newlywed in a plural marriage. The fortunate son of a mystical matriarch. When Chad heads home to bury his estranged mother Hazel, he plans to confront his toxic ex, Juni, for what he vows to his husband and wife will be the final time. But Saw Creek, Oregon, is far from the idyllic logging community Chad remembers as a kid. For starters, why the hell has the town cemetery been converted into a communal farm?

Chadwick has the world at his fingertips. An elite editor in Manhattan’s publishing world. A hot and heavy newlywed in a plural marriage. The fortunate son of a mystical matriarch. When Chad heads home to bury his estranged mother Hazel, he plans to confront his toxic ex, Juni, for what he vows to his husband and wife will be the final time. But Saw Creek, Oregon, is far from the idyllic logging community Chad remembers as a kid. For starters, why the hell has the town cemetery been converted into a communal farm?

Juni is the cutest damn cult leader ever. She also looks good in hats, which works out because she wears a million of them around the invisible town of Saw Creek, Oregon - where the death toll is 100 percent female. “Real power can’t be bought or sold.” Juni instructs her young pupils - all raised without gender assignment, for their protection. Instead, children of Home self-identify by mood palette.

At Saw Creek High, Juni was not the hottest chick in the room, but the smartest. After she and Chad accidentally set a fir grove aflame as kids, they never sold each other out - or spoke again. Until academic big-shot Chad brings her a beer and an adventure in Cambridge, England, on his academic full-ride. But Juni punches her return ticket home when tragedy strikes during their daughter London’s birth. A decade later, Chadwick is wed in plural matrimony to Alice, an erudite architect, and Hunter, a no-holds barred urban developer.

At 16, Juni was anything but sweet to Chad. Her heart bursts when they fall in love, then breaks when Chad accepts admissions overseas, then blooms when she becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Losing their daughter London would have ended any young mother, but Juni found Chad’s mom, Hazel, waiting for her in Saw Creek to nurse her emotional wounds, feed her soul, and fill her spirit. A decade later, Juni answers the alarm Hazel sounds when an apparent epidemic of vast social consequence kills off any female who dares set foot outside Saw Creek.

At Home, Chad minds fresh eggs. And he’s really bad at it. His breakage ratio might improve if he had clean sheets. Or a bed. Or socks. Or shoes. And definitely some band-aids would go a long way to adjusting his mood. At Home, Chad finds no allies among men. Klint, former all-star tormentor of Saw Creek High, is all-in on the communal farm they tend along with Beck, a kid on the spectrum - who doubles as Juni’s look-out.

Juni is dying to meet Hunter, Chad’s husband. Seems like it’s easy to be married to Hunter. He plays squash and makes bank. As far as awkward meetings go, where somebody ends up dead, this one’s #goals. Chad’s shadow, Beck, is now his best student, as Juni slowly hands over the reins of Home’s daily operation - and indoctrination - to her ex. She’s slightly jealous of Chad’s ability to mindshare with "our kids", - a talent Juni lacks. Pop’s passing brings Juni to a decision point. Is Chad ready to know the truth? Yes. Is Chad ready to know the whole truth?

Chad’s throwing his weight into training for the Hibernal Gauntlet - with zero help from anyone or anything, including the ginormous boulder he’s attempting to budge. Studying the Doctrine of Disruption answers as many questions as it also asks, as Chad finally learns what went down in Saw Creek - or at least the official version. When Chad unexpectedly stumbles upon the whole truth, will it make or break him? More to the point, will Juni allow him to ascend to The Wisdom Circle as advertised - or has he sealed his fate forever?

Juni’s opening ceremony for Home’s Hibernal Gauntlet gives Beck occasion to turn her students against her. Ordinarily this might give a cult leader cause for alarm, but Juni’s hands are full right now and her mind is elsewhere. Alice ventures to Saw Creek seeking out her missing husbands, Chadwick and Hunter, but she finds only Juni waiting for her. With Alice’s fate hanging in the balance beneath the forest canopy, Chad struggles through the Gauntlet with only his wits to guide him.