Bad Ones

On a single winter night, four people disappear from a small town and leave no trace. One of them is Becca, the best friend Nora has not spoken to in years. Nora sets out to learn what happened to her, and the search uncovers a dark chapter in the town's history along with a trail of coded messages Becca left behind. Those messages point to a local legend about a goddess whose origins have been lost, a figure who once featured in the games Nora and Becca played as children.

The novel is a horror fantasy with a crossover pull, full of dark magic. Its central concerns are a friendship that is good for neither person, the occult force hidden in childhood play and in making art, and how easily make-believe slides into belief.

Melissa Albert's book is a standalone, written for teen readers and pitched as a blend of horror and fantasy.