King Sorrow by Joe Hill

Picture this: a frosty New England college, an exceptional library, and six friends who make one catastrophic mistake. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill comes a chilling tale of dark academia, modern-world dangers, and the unexpected price of revenge.

Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, here in Maine—a place not so far from our own salty shores. When a local drug dealer corners him into stealing rare books from the college library, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help. And that’s where things go gloriously, horrifyingly wrong.

Their wild scheme? Summon a dragon. Using the unnerving Crane journal (bound, unsettlingly, in the skin of its author), the six friends smash reality and call forth a creature of the impossible. But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons.

Their desperate pact becomes a terrible bargain. Every year, a new sacrifice must be offered to King Sorrow—or one of them becomes his next meal.

As Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in Suite 11, puts it: “A brilliantly Faustian fable with a heart as huge as a dragon’s, and a stinging twist in its tail. I devoured it.”

This one is for the readers who love their horror smart, their thrillers literary, and their endings impossible to predict. Equal parts crime, supernatural suspense, and dark coming-of-age story.

Pour yourself a warm cup of tea, find a cozy corner, and let yourself get pulled under. Just maybe keep the lights on.

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