D.K. Zier’s debut young adult novel, The Urban Legend of the Gold Key is set in the 1980s and revolves around narrator Cate, the new girl in school.
Cate has just moved again, this time to Seaway, California. But a lifetime of summers visiting her grandmother gives her hope that her year at Merrick High School will be better than others, especially because that’s where the bandmates in her garage band attend school.
A talented piano player and keyboardist, Cate attracts the attention of Ashley Sloan, the school’s most popular girl. Ashley asks her to play keyboards at the school’s fall music competition. A junior, Ashley has already won one gold key, and if she wins another this year, she has a chance at winning the third her senior year, which would qualify her for the school’s lifetime music award.
But someone enters Cate’s name into the competition, and after playing backup to Ashley, Cate wins the gold key. This turns the popular crowd against her. As the story unfolds, Cate juggles the difficulties of friendship and high school. She also has nightmares that might come from a piano inherited from an ancestor who died at age 16. These dreams fill her with a sense of impending doom.
The novel’s paranormal elements will likely appeal to Stranger Things fans, and the story will also interest Generation X readers, especially those who love musical references, as the narrator mentions songs playing at the local mall or on the car radio, which will take certain readers back to their own teenage years.
Zier has crafted relatable characters, and readers will root for Cate to find her place in the world, as she figures out what’s triggering her nightmares and the conundrum of the golden keys. Zier’s dialogue could be snappier, but the author’s sense of plot, pacing and character development make that easy to overlook.
Overall, young adults will enjoy this engaging story with a paranormal twist.
Also available as an ebook.