cover image Little Monsters

Little Monsters

Kara Thomas. Delacorte, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-553-52149-8

Thomas’s (The Darkest Corners) twisted and atmospheric dive into the psychology of teenage girls holds a horrifying fascination. Kacey has had a difficult go of things. After fights with her mother became untenable, she moved from Rochester, N.Y., to Broken Falls, Wis., to live with the father she’s never met, his new wife, and her stepsiblings. Despite being labeled as different, thanks to her “punk hair” and mysterious past, Kacey befriended classmates Jade and Bailey, though it’s a relationship fraught with minefields. When Kacey’s 13-year-old sister, Lauren, joins Kacey and her friends for a séance at the site of a massacre, everything starts to unravel. Kacey finds herself ostracized from Bailey and Jade—and then Bailey disappears. What follows is equal parts mystery and introspection as Kacey begins to question her life, her choices, and everyone around her in a quest to find justice. It’s an intense psychological thriller that all but ensures the lights will be left on between dusk and dawn. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media. (July)