The Ascent

A Novel

By: Allison Buccola

What would you do if the past showed up on your doorstep? A woman who grew up in a cult must decide if she can trust the stranger claiming to have answers to the dark mysteries of her childhood in this "irresistible"* thriller.

*Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines

Twenty years ago, the members of a reclusive commune outside Philadelphia vanished without a trace. The mystery of their disappearance has never been solved. No sightings of the members were ever verified, and no bodies ever found. But the group did leave one thing behind: a twelve-year-old girl wandering alone on the side of the road in search of her lost family.

In the years since that morning, Lee Burton has tried to put the pain of her past behind her. She has built a new identity for herself, with a doting husband and seven-month-old daughter, Lucy. No one in her life now knows about her connection to “the cult that went missing,” not even her husband. But new motherhood is proving a bigger challenge than she anticipated. She doesn't want to let Lucy out of her sight even for a moment. She can't return to work. She's not sleeping, and she's starting to have paranoid thoughts of Lucy being harmed.

Then a stranger shows up on her doorstep, offering to finally answer all of Lee’s questions about her past—if she could only trust that the woman is who she says she is. As she digs deeper into the woman's history, the safe, stable life that Lee has constructed for herself threatens to shatter. In The Ascent, Allison Buccola has crafted a nerve-rattling thriller about motherhood, identity, and the truths we think we know about our families.

©2025 Allison Buccola (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“I read this enthralling psychological thriller in one fell swoop. Every time I thought I would put it down, it sucked me back in and I lost an entire night of sleep. The Ascent is an intense examination of motherhood, trauma, marriage and our fascination with cults . . . I loved it.”—Jo Piazza, bestselling author of You Were Always Mine

“I’ve always been a hard-core fan of Allison Buccola, and The Ascent takes me over the top with one of the most cleverly executed and original thriller plots I’ve read in a long time. Buccola’s delicate writing is masterfully sneaky—her soulful young protagonist is holding your hand in the dark, then snatches it away as you race to the twisty conclusion. I loved it. The Ascent should be at the top of your list.”—Julia Heaberlin, internationally bestselling author of Night Will Find You

“A knife-sharp look into the psyche of a cult survivor who hasn’t come to terms with the events of her past, Allison Buccola’s sophomore novel is a triumph of a book. Poignant and twisty, layered and tense, I was fascinated by the inner workings of Jacob’s Hill and obsessed with knowing how all the loose threads inevitably tied together in the end.”—Stacy Willingham, New York Times bestselling author of Only If You’re Lucky

“Allison Buccola’s gripping and fascinating look at life after a cult is packed with reasons to fly through the pages. With a protagonist haunted by her strange, secluded childhood, the appearance of a mysterious woman who might hold sinister secrets, and the tantalizing question of what happened to an entire community that vanished, The Ascent is an irresistible thriller.”—Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot