The Thorns

In this hauntingly twisted tale, an author reconnects with an old boarding school friend, forcing her to reckon with their shared past and the imaginary creature she thought they left behind.

Touch a line, you break your spine.

Stacey is the dusty air, the cracked soil, the drought. To thirteen-year-old Bethany Sloane, she's everything.

Abandoned by her mother at a remote African boarding school, Bethany will do anything to stay in Stacey's good graces. And that means learning the rules of each twisted game.

Touch a crack, you break your back.

Years later, Bethany is a bestselling author. Disabled now, she can't remember what happened back in the bush. But there's no mistaking Stacey Preston's name in her inbox.

Glassy, glassy, cut my arsey.

That email brings Bethany's childhood rushing back. The Glass Man was just a story the Thorns invented, a game of wits. But every game has its rules--and consequences for breaking them. To stay alive this round, Bethany needs to play right into Stacey's hands.

Dark and disturbing, The Thorns explores the horrifying world of adolescent abuse, controlling friendships, and blinding obsession.

Dawn Kurtagich is the award-winning author of several YA horror novels, including her acclaimed debut The Dead House, as well as And the Trees Crept In (The Creeper Man), Teeth in the Mist, Blood on the Wind, and her first adult novel, The Madness.

The daughter of a British globe-trotter, Kurtagich grew up all over the world, but her formative years were spent in Africa--on a mission, in the bush, in the city, and in the desert. She leaves her North Wales crypt after midnight during blood moons. The rest of the time, she exists somewhere between mushrooms, maggots, and mold.

You can always find the author on her website at www.dawnkurtagich.com.