THE RITUAL – Adam Nevill

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When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. With limited experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse. 

But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artifacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. As the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees . . .
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RIDE OR DIE – Delilah S. Dawson

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Tonight is Brie’s chance to finally be accepted by the Ems—the most popular girls at school. If she can just keep one potentially reputation-ending secret under wraps, she’ll have the best night of her life, screaming on scary rides and running the Wildwoods amusement park with her new friends.

But when the Ems take a game of truth or dare too far, Brie ends up alone in a creepy abandoned section of the park. There, she meets a group of cool older teens that invite her to join them. They seem friendly enough.

Little does Brie know she’s about to come face to face with a reawakened evil that wants to take her on the ride of her life…make that her death.
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PLAY NICE – Rachel Harrison

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Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parents’ messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped her of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, a sinister presence in the house manifests, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation.
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MYSTERY JAMES DIGS HER OWN GRAVE – Ally Russell

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13-year-old Mystery—who was abandoned in a cemetery and raised in a funeral home—is plagued by sleep paralysis and the smell of ghosts, but she’s used to that. Even though her life might seem “strange” on the outside, she loves it.

That is until a priceless heirloom goes missing and her family’s funeral home is in danger of being shut down. To clear her Tia’s good name, Mystery embarks on an adventure to figure out what really happened to the misplaced necklace.

But to do so, she must contend with the angry patriarch of the town’s wealthiest family, a sleep paralysis demon, a graverobber, and the ghastly half-vampire, half-ghost that’s lurking in the Olde Ellis Town Cemetery.
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BLOOD SUGAR – Daniel Kraus

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In a ruined house at the end of Yellow Street, an angry outcast hatches a scheme to take revenge for all the wrongs he has suffered. With the help of three alienated kids, he plans to hide razor blades, poison, and broken glass in Halloween candy, maiming or killing dozens of innocent children. But as the clock ticks closer to sundown, will one of his helpers—an innocent himself, in his own streetwise way—carry out or defeat the plan?

Told from the child’s point of view, in a voice as unforgettable as A Clockwork Orange, Kraus’ novel is at once frightening and emotional, thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny. It’ll make you rethink your concepts of family, loyalty, and justice—and will leave you double-checking the wrappers on your Halloween candy for the rest of your days.
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THE GOOD HOUSE – Tananarive Due

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The home that belonged to Angela Toussaint’s late grandmother is so beloved that the townspeople in Sacajawea, Washington call it the Good House. But that all changes one summer when an unexpected tragedy takes place behind its closed doors, and the Toussaint’s family history—and future—is dramatically transformed.

Angela has not returned to the Good House since her son, Corey, died there two years ago. But now, Angela is finally ready to return to her hometown and go beyond the grave to unearth the truth about Corey’s death. Could it be related to a terrifying entity Angela’s grandmother battled seven decades ago? And what about the other senseless calamities that Sacajawea has seen in recent years? Has Angela’s grandmother, an African American woman reputed to have “powers,” put a curse on the entire community?
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BONES OF OUR STARS, BLOOD OF OUR WORLD – Cullen Bunn

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The bodies are stacking up on Wilson Island.

The town’s sheriff has his suspicions but no genuine evidence for an arrest, even as the murders continue and appear increasingly ritualistic in nature. And when an arrest is finally made, all hell breaks loose—literally—as a terrifying horror rises to envelop the town. Soon it’s all up to an unforgettable and motley group of residents to band together and eliminate an ancient evil in a desperate struggle for survival.
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BOYS IN THE VALLEY – Philip Fracassi

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St. Vincent’s Orphanage for Boys.

Early twentieth century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania.

Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future…a family.

Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, occult symbols carved into his flesh. His death releases an ancient evil that spreads like sickness, infecting St. Vincent’s and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides.

Others turn up dead.

Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives ― and perhaps their eternal souls ― are at risk.
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THE FEEDING – Anthony Ryan

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Fifteen years ago the feeders rose from the shadows to transform the world into a graveyard. The few survivors exist in fortified settlements surrounded by the empty ruins of a destroyed civilization. For years the citizens of New City Redoubt have relied on an elite cadre of Crossers to navigate the feeder-infested wasteland between settlements in order to trade for vital supplies. But the Outside is becoming ever more dangerous, and the ranks of the Crossers grow thinner with every crossing.

Layla, only a child when the Feeding destroyed the old world, spends her days scavenging the ruins for valuable scrap and her nights helping her adoptive family eke a living from the Redoubt’s only movie theater. Now, with her father slowly dying, Layla resolves to join the Crossers to retrieve the medicine that can save him. Smart, ruthless, and fast on her feet, Layla quickly gains the respect of her fellow Crossers. But, in a world lost to the deadliest predators, can even the most cunning prey survive?
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ALTER EGO – Alex Segura

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Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she’s never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available―until now.

But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle’s father started Triumph Comics, and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie’s inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.

Annie, who has been called a genius, a sell-out, a visionary, a hack, and everything else under the sun, is sick of the money grab. For the first time since she started reading a tattered copy of The Legendary Lynx #1 as a kid, she feels a pure, creative spark. The chance to tell a story her way. She’s not about to let that go. Even if it means uncovering the dark truth about the character she loves.
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