The Bad Ones

NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Melissa Albert returns in this supernatural thriller about a girl who uncovers dangerous, supernatural secrets surrounding the disappearances in her small townOne winter's night, four people go missing: three high school students and a teacher, with no other link apparent among them.One of the lost is Nora's enigmatic friend, Becca, who vanishes after the lifelong friends have a transformative fight. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca's disappearance, she uncovers dark events in her high school's past. Soon, she becomes haunted by a piece of local lore: a goddess folk figure of forgotten origins that played an eerie role in Nora and Becca's own childhood games.With each discovery Nora makes about the vanished four and her suburb's secrets, she becomes increasingly aware her friend was hiding far more than she realized. She must dig deep to discover whether Becca is perpetrator or victim, and to unravel the mystery of the goddess, a desperate and dangerous creation born out of female rage. But there are other forces at work - and they're willing to protect or destroy the legacy of the goddess at any cost.