Tracy Sierra’s debut novel, NIGHTWATCHING, was a claustrophobic thriller set largely inside a secret safe room in a historic New England home. It was inspired, in part, by the place where she currently lives. Her sophomore effort, WARNING SIGNS, has its origins in the place where Sierra grew up, as she writes in an afterword, “in a boomtown of the American West often described as a ‘playground of the rich and famous.’”

Like Sierra, her protagonist, 12-year-old Zach, has grown up surrounded by both avid outdoors people and the super wealthy. His mother, Grace, was one of the former. She worked for Mountain Rescue before she had children. After Zach and his younger sister, Bonnie, were born, she dedicated herself to teaching them how to be strong and stay safe in the mountains. Zach’s father, Bram, desperately wants to be one of the latter --- and he’s been successful at courting favor with wealthy people, convincing several of them to invest in his company over the years.

"I remember reading NIGHTWATCHING in practically one sitting... [A]fter finishing WARNING SIGNS in a single day and (late) night, I can vouch for it being just as tense and propulsive as [Sierra's] first novel."

Now, however, Grace is dead. Bram decides that her annual reservation at Pantheon Hut, a backcountry lodge that is almost impossible to book except by locals like her, is a perfect opportunity to stage a father-son gathering that will bring together some of his biggest investors and convince them to renew or increase their investment for the year ahead. To that end, he brings along Zach, even though (in Zach’s mind) he doesn’t seem to like him all that much. He rarely calls him by his name and constantly belittles him for continuing to grieve his beloved mother’s death.

Almost from the first moment in the mountains, Bram’s vision of the weekend goes off the rails. His single biggest investor is a no-show, and the assistant he had asked to come early and clean the place up is also nowhere to be found. What’s more, recent snowfall makes their backcountry skiing adventures risky at best. Against the better judgment of their guide and of Zach --- who, thanks to his mom, has a much better sense of wilderness safety than Bram does --- the group decides to continue with their skiing plans. When disaster ensues, it sets in motion a chain of events connecting the past and the present that are bound to culminate in tragedy.

I remember reading NIGHTWATCHING in practically one sitting, and I was skeptical that Sierra could repeat her success in this follow-up. But after finishing WARNING SIGNS in a single day and (late) night, I can vouch for it being just as tense and propulsive as her first novel. This time around, the stakes are raised by virtue of its youthful protagonist, who’s having to make split-second decisions and moral judgments that no child should have to make, all while trying to decipher his own memories and the cryptic words and actions of the adults around him.

WARNING SIGNS also amps up the creepiness with mysterious happenings that might or might not be supernatural in nature. If described by an adult protagonist, they might seem hokey or far-fetched. But through Zach’s eyes and vivid 12-year-old imagination, they feel all too real. Sierra proves that the great outdoors can be just as scary as a hidden cupboard --- and, in the remembered words of Zach’s mother, “there’s nothing as scary as people.”