The Bad Ones
“Unholy, vengeful, and utterly captivating. THE BAD ONES delivers on Melissa Albert’s status as a modern horror master, and burns with a steady, corrosive clarity, not unlike a developing photograph revealing unseen evils.
Among longlisted titles for NPR Best Book of the Year, 2024
Among longlisted titles for NPR Best Book of the Year, 2024
Among longlisted titles for CPL: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, 2024
"Emma Galvin's chilling narration will draw listeners into a small town where four people have mysteriously vanished."—AudioFile
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Melissa Albert returns with THE BAD ONES, a supernatural horror novel about four mysterious disappearances in a town haunted by a sinister magical history
Goddess, goddess, count to five
In the morning, who’s alive?
In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town.
Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local lore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games. . . .
An arresting, crossover horror fantasy threaded with dark magic, THE BAD ONES is a poison-pen love letter to semi-toxic best friendship, the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
Praise