Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
Kindle Price: $11.99

Save $8.01 (40%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $17.71

Save: $10.22 (58%)

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Courtney Gould
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Where Echoes Die: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Courtney Gould (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 113 ratings
See all formats and editions

An International Thriller Award Finalist

Two sisters travel to an isolated Arizona town to investigate its connection to their mother’s death, but uncover more than they bargained for in this supernatural thriller from the author of The Dead and the Dark.

Beck Birsching has been adrift since the death of her mother, a brilliant but troubled investigative reporter. She can’t stop herself from slipping into memories of happier days, longing for a time when things were more normal. So when a mysterious letter in her mother’s handwriting arrives in the mail that reads Come and find me, pointing to the small town at the center of her last investigation, Beck hopes that it may hold the answers.

But when Beck and her sister Riley arrive in Backravel, Arizona, it’s clear that something’s off. There are no cars, no cemeteries, no churches. The town is a mix of dilapidated military structures and new, shiny buildings, all overseen by a gleaming treatment center high on a plateau. No one seems to remember when they got there, and when Beck digs deeper into the town’s enigmatic leader and his daughter, Avery, she begins to suspect that they know more than they’re letting on.

As Beck and her sister search for answers about their mother, she and Avery are increasingly drawn together, and their unexpected connection brings up emotions Beck has fought to keep buried. Beck is desperate to hold onto the way things used to be, but when she starts losing herself in Backravel—and its connection to her mother— she risks losing her way back out.

In Where Echoes Die, Courtney Gould draws readers into a haunting desert town to explore grief, the weight of not letting go of the past, first love, and the bonds between sisters, mothers and daughters.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    346 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Wednesday Books
  5. Publication date
    June 20, 2023
  6. Reading age
    14 - 18 years
  7. File size
    5430 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
Next page

From the Publisher

Where Echoes Die Courtney Gould Ava Reid quote
Where Echoes Die Courtney Gould Allison Saft quote

Editorial Reviews

Review

An International Thriller Award Finalist
Finalist for the Oregon Book Award's Leslie Bradshaw Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature, 2024

“[A] supernatural thrill ride...[Gould] carefully weaves together a powerful portrait of grief and healing that's equal parts unnerving and heartbreaking.” –Publishers Weekly (starred)

“An acknowledgment of the impossibility of staying still despite the inevitability of death, and an exploration of the ways in which grief makes us vulnerable that is at once universal and highly specific. Imaginative, unexpectedly resonant, and recommended.” –Booklist

“A sophisticated and entertaining read that is highly atmospheric...A creative exploration of loss and discovery.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Gould’s masterfully sensory descriptions of rural life will have you inhaling rusty road dust and feeling the sweat-slicked leather of a car seat in the sun sticking to your thighs from page one…you can physically feel time and space closing in as the mystery unfolds.” –Paste Magazine

"Two sisters head to the desert to find the truth behind their mother’s death in this moody, atmospheric detective story." --LitHub

“A dazzling desert fever dream. With a winning cast of characters and a voice that’s by turns eerie and gentle, Courtney Gould spins a stunning whirlwind journey through time, grief, and love. Readers will find their way to Backravel, Arizona over and over again.” --Rebecca Mahoney, author of The Valley and the Flood

“An intoxicating, dream-like mystery, as hazy as the desert heat, and a poignant story about the transformative power of trauma and grief. Where Echoes Die is a bleakly beautiful book that will unnerve and enchant you in equal measure--a stunning achievement." --Ava Reid, bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman

“Eerie, tender, and inventive, Where Echoes Die is a triumph. With atmosphere as stark and ruthless as the Arizona heat and a masterfully unspooling mystery, Gould crafts a tale about survival and moving on that had me completely arrested.” ―Allison Saft, NYT bestselling author of Down Comes the Night

Praise for Courtney Gould and The Dead and the Dark:

"Gould has a gift for supernatural storytelling." - Culturess

"Imagine Riverdale crossing streams with Stephen King's The Outsider and you'll get a sense of this gripping supernatural mystery...Gould's debut begins as a snappy paranormal yarn and unspools into a profound story about the complex interplay between grief, guilt, and identity." - Oprah Daily

"Gould’s atmospheric writing mesmerized me while reading... In the veins of V.E. Schwab and Courtney Summers, Gould delivers a spine-chilling and eerie debut with The Dead and the Dark that will leave readers hooked from the first page." - The Nerd Daily

"For fans of books like authors like Courtney Summers and Lisa Jewel, Courtney Gould’s debut novel The Dead and the Dark packs a chilling story of a murder conspiracy, family bonds, and the darkness that exists within the seams of society and even inside the most purest of people." - The Young Folks

"Gould's debut is an utterly dreamy romance in the midst of a living nightmare, and a true testament to the power of love in a world of hate. It's exactly the book we need right now." - Dahlia Adler, author of Cool for the Summer and editor of His Hideous Heart

"The Dead and the Dark has something for everyone: thrills, chills, a mystery that'll keep readers guessing and a romance they'll absolutely love rooting for. Snakebite is a setting as unforgettably alive as the characters who inhabit it and once it gets hold of you, it won't let go. A riveting, spooky and expertly-crafted debut from a talented new voice in YA fiction." - Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie

About the Author

Courtney Gould writes books about queer girls, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Publishing. She was born and raised in Salem, OR, where she continues to write love letters to the haunted girls and rural, empty spaces. The Dead and the Dark is her debut novel.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09NTL4NCR
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wednesday Books (June 20, 2023)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 20, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5430 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 346 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1250825792
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 113 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Courtney Gould

Courtney Gould

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Courtney Gould writes books about queer girls, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. Her debut novel, THE DEAD AND THE DARK, came out in 2021 and received the Leslie Bradshaw award for Young Adult Readers. She is also the author of WHERE ECHOES DIE and the forthcoming WHAT THE WOODS TOOK.

Courtney Gould writes books about queer girls, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Publishing, and now lives in Salem, OR where she continues to write love letters to small towns and haunted places.

Courtney is represented by Claire Friedman and Jessica Mileo at InkWell Management.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
113 global ratings
Young adult Sci Fi mystery
3 Stars
Young adult Sci Fi mystery
Book Review: Where Echoes Die by Courtney GouldWhere Echoes Die is a young adult science fiction novel about two sisters that visit the town that was the obsession of their mother in the years before her death.Lying to their father about where they are going teenage sisters Beck and Riley decide to take their beat up car on a road trip across several states to visit Backravel, Arizona. Before their investigative reporter mother died she visited the town repeatedly over a decade chasing a story about its mysteries. But upon their arrival they find a tiny town with no hospital or cemetery and where none of the residents remember where they lived before coming to Backravel. Keeping both Riley and their father in the dark Beck uses her late mother’s notes to try to get to the bottom of what kept her coming back and trying to unearth its mysteries.I was looking forward to reading the one but I struggled with Beck as a character. She is determined but lacked the savviness a person needs to investigate a story this size. She also gets majorly distracted by a pretty face which was really annoying and the romance didn’t help the storyline at all. I would have enjoyed it more if she was a little bolder and less naive because she doesn’t really do anything but bumble around and put herself at risk.Overall Where Echoes Die was just an okay read for me. I personally enjoy a main character that is a little more exciting to read about and has a few tricks up her sleeve. The two sisters in this book were too passive and bland for me. But I enjoyed the overall concept and weirdness of this isolated desert town.Three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Laura Prindable
4.0 out of 5 stars A Sci-Fi fantasy with mystery
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2024
This is a sci-fi fantasy novel with mystery. This was quite good!

Riley and Beck's mother has passed. Beck is grieving. Riley has seemed to accept it and move on. But Beck found research of her mother's on a little town in Arizona. Beck decides she wants to go and figure out what is going on, what has caused her mother to spend so much time there. So they set out on a road trip to find the answers.
Helpful
 Report
Cinnbun5
5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Gallon Hats and Grief
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023
This expose on grieving masquerades well as a science fiction story reminiscent of Stephen King's Desperation. However the writing wasn't at all King-like but definitely the author's own.

The main character, Beck, was endearing and believable and her aching loneliness can be felt.

I thought that I had a n inkling of what was going on and I was right - in a way - but getting to the climax was beautiful, fun, twisty and unputdownable.

I plan to check out more from this author.

"She's alone the way she's always alone. Alone surrounded by people, swirling in a toxic cocktail of her own thoughts."
Helpful
 Report
Ashley
3.0 out of 5 stars Plot was lost
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
I had high hopes for this one but unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan. I loved the queer rep but this story just went in circles. I almost DNF’d but stick it out because I wanted to know the ending but the ending truly didn’t clear up much.
Helpful
 Report
Booktravelbug
4.0 out of 5 stars If you could forget the past, would you?
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2023
This is a book I never would have chosen for myself. But after listening to Warrior Girl Unearthed, I loved the narrator so I took a chance. It took a minute to get into it, but it is one of those books that once you start you just have to know how it ends. What would you do if you didn’t have to remember the pain in your life? If you didn’t have to relive a loss over and over again, but in return, you lose a piece of yourself, would it be worth it?
Helpful
 Report
lacyduckie
5.0 out of 5 stars Full of Life
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023
Courtney Gould is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. She has this ability to take these little spooky flyover towns and tell their stories with rich layers of sustenance. The Dead and the Dark took me by complete surprise with how much I enjoyed it. It was by chance that I even read it, considering, A.) I'm not really into a lot of horror, and B.) At the point of receiving an arc of TDatD, I'd never heard of the author. But that's what made me jump at the chance to read Where Echos Die early as well.

Where Echos Die follows Beck Birsching, who has been completely lost since losing her mother. So when a mysterious letter in her mother’s handwriting arrives in the mail with the words 'come and find me', pointing to Backravel, Arizona, Beck, along with her younger sister, Riley, take off with new purpose looking for answers about their mother. But there's something a little off about the people and town of Backravel. Then there's the mysterious facility where people receive treatments for unknown causes. No one seems to remember when they got there, and the only people who seem to know more than they’re letting on is the town’s leader (who provides the treatments) and his daughter, Avery.

“The people in this town are scared. They’ve lost themselves and they’re stumbling in the heat looking for something real. I’d rather be . . . I would rather be here, in this place. Where the echo dies. In the quiet.”

The Dead and the Dark and Where Echos Die are completely different stories and universes. But they share similar themes. They both deal with different forms of grief. (Another topic I tend to avoid.) But it never becomes overwhelming. And there are themes of love and family and the humanity and heart of a a community. Courtney's stories are so beautifully captivatingly written that it feels like you've just started the story when suddenly you've arrived at the end and wanting nothing more than to exist in these little universes just a little longer. But for now, I'll just wait patiently for Courtney Gould's next adventure.

“You can still love what you remember about him,” Beck says. “And you can still be mad at him for the bad stuff, too. The world doesn’t stop when you lose someone, I guess. You keep feeling.”
Helpful
 Report
kmurph31
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Premise! A Stunning Achievement by An Author Who Can Write!
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023
WHERE ECHOES DIE
BY: COURTNEY GOULD

This is a Young Adult novel that explores grief and loss. It is interesting, and once you pick it up it is hard to stop reading. Beck and her sister Riley travel to Backravel, Arizona, by which they have just lost their mother, who was an investigative reporter. When they receive a letter in the mail from their mother who was obsessed with Backravel, saying "Come and find me," Beck and her sister Riley travel to Backravel hoping to find some answers about their deceased mother.

When they arrive there is something about this town that feels off. There are no cemeteries, churches cars, or pets.

This has an eerie vibe that is also spooky. As the two sisters settle down they think that the leader, named, Ricky Carnes, and his daughter Avery, who they're both told is the tour guide, they have the distinct impression that both Ricky, and his daughter, Avery know more than they are letting on. Nobody else seems to remember when they arrived or how long they have been there.

Beck is desperately trying to research Backravel, and further her understanding about a town that's the size of one thousand people by going to the library. It's not much of a library, with only a few bookshelves, and as she looks into articles about Backravel, she can't find out who wrote them or when. Riley has made friends with some of the local youth, while Beck is studying her mother's notes continuously. Trying to wrap her head around why her mother traveled there so many times, from their home in Washington. Riley, the younger of the two sisters didn't know about the mysterious letter from their mom. Beck had been the one who received the letter, with a Backravel, Arizona return address.

Both Beck and her younger sister Riley are staying with the Sterling family in their camper in the Sterling's yard. They have one son named Patrick, who is approximately the same age as the sisters.

This is my least favorite genre, which happens to be Science Fiction, and Young adults fiction. But I really enjoyed this and found the premise fascinating. There is a Treatment Center run by the town's founder that Beck is dying to get into. I think that the writing is strong, and the characters well developed. I loved this a lot more than I thought I would, even though I had to go back, and read the last 15% again to change my rating. Things made a bit more sense to me, after reading the ending twice. I'm still not quite sure that the ending can be plausible, without suspending belief. It might be a bit less well written, because it felt a lot of explanation is contained in the last 15% about the mystery of the novel. I think fans of Science fiction will love this original theme. I'm so glad that I read this, and even though I enjoy magical realism incorporated into novels, it isn't as big of a stretch of imagination as Science fiction seems to be. I think that I had to just go with it as it is.

Publication Date: June 20, 2023: Available Now To Buy!
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report