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by Alma Katsu
Historical horror maven Alma Katsu turns her talents to the modern world for the first time, in this terrifying tale about an all-powerful family with an ancient evil under its thumb.
Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.
The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they've always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They're blessed.
At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris's most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora's job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn't get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.
"[O]ozing with dread...Katsu presents a fast-paced story that will unite her fans across genres." —Library Journal
"[I]n this haunting tale...Katsu's exploration of the bloody price of privilege keeps the pages turning. It's a supernaturally charged Succession that will have readers hooked." —Publishers Weekly
"[A] thoroughly enjoyable story of rich people behaving badly—rich people who happen to have a demon at their command—with a plot that's propelled by the dysfunctional family dynamics far more than by the supernatural elements. Katsu's first contemporary horror novel is an excellent choice for horror-curious readers who may be leery of gore and jump scares, fans of TV series Succession, and for those who enjoyed Come Closer by Sara Gran, The Corporation by J. F. Gonzalez, or Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez." —Booklist
"An absolutely wicked delight! Fiend ruined several nights' sleep for me, which is the highest praise I can give a book. Damn you, Alma Katsu, please write another novel as quickly as possible. I'm bereft to be done with this one." —Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Book of Love
"Succession meets Supernatural in this tale of greed and family dysfunction. Alma Katsu ventures into contemporary horror with panache." —Silvia Moreno-Garcia author of Mexican Gothic
"If you liked Succession but think it would have been a lot more fun with a 1,000 year old demon, then Alma Katsu's Fiend has got you covered." —Grady Hendrix, author of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
This information about Fiend was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alma Katsu is the author of eight novels, most recently Red London, The Fervor, Red Widow, and The Deep. Prior to the publication of her first novel, she had a thirty-five-year long career as a senior intelligence analyst for several U.S. agencies, including the CIA and NSA, as well as RAND. Katsu is a graduate of the master's writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and is a contributing reviewer for the Washington Post.
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