The Mary Shelley Club - by Goldy Moldavsky

About the Book

Book Synopsis

New York Times-bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky delivers a deliciously twisty YA thriller that's Scream meets Karen McManus about a mysterious club with an obsession for horror.

When it comes to horror movies, the rules are clear:

x Avoid abandoned buildings, warehouses, and cabins at all times.
x Stay together: don't split up, not even just to "check something out."
x If there's a murderer on the loose, do not make out with anyone.

If only surviving in real life were this easy...

New girl Rachel Chavez turns to horror movies for comfort, preferring stabby serial killers and homicidal dolls to the bored rich kids of Manhattan Prep...and to certain memories she'd preferred to keep buried.

Then Rachel is recruited by the Mary Shelley Club, a mysterious society of students who orchestrate Fear Tests, elaborate pranks inspired by urban legends and movie tropes. At first, Rachel embraces the power that comes with reckless pranking. But as the Fear Tests escalate, the competition turns deadly, and it's clear Rachel is playing a game she can't afford to lose.

Review Quotes

"A smart, serpentine, propulsive thriller with an ending that will make you gasp. Don't try to read this one right before bed if you want to sleep." --Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee

"This club is SERIOUSLY. MESSED. UP. I loved everything about it." --Lygia Day Peñaflor, author of All of This Is True

"A bright, smooth candy apple with a razor blade inside. Goldy Moldavsky continues her white-hot streak of unmatched brilliance in the world of contemporary YA." --Derek Milman, author of Scream All Night and Swipe Right for Murder

"This twisty tour de force from Moldavsky (No Good Deed) is at once a gripping teen melodrama, an incisive meditation on fear, and a love letter to horror and the genre's tropes." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"An atmospheric page-turner about loving scary movies, longing to belong, and uncovering the many masks people wear." --Kirkus Reviews

"Moldavsky manages to both pay homage to and poke fun at traditional horror tropes, dialing up the cheesiness at points to then replace it with true terror, and the final fear test is keenly chilling." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books