Books
i am the monster under the bed
​​Something lives under Willa’s bed. As an adult, her fondest childhood memories are of the invisible entity under her bed who taught her how to read. Now thirty-two, Willa is a reclusive but successful painter until a bombshell news report exposes her identity as the controversial survivor of the unsolved Rapture Mystery Slayings, a small-town tragedy that splashed across headlines during her senior year of high school. Six teenagers died in the woods while Willa walked free, and everyone thinks she killed them.
When an old classmate calls about a funeral, Willa reluctantly travels to her sleepy hometown, where the possessed forest that stole her friends looms. The trees whistle for her attention, but she knows better than to listen. And the unexplained knocking from the shadows in the basement of her decaying childhood home is honestly the least of her problems.
As her past pulls her back to the place she swore she’d never return, Willa is drawn toward the monster she left behind—and becoming the villain her hometown has always believed her to be.
"With its eerie premise and steadily intensifying dread, I Am the Monster Under the Bed culminates in a truly wild, horror-driven finale. Emily Zinnikas delivers a darkly imaginative debut about trauma, secrets, and the terrifying freedom of unleashing our monsters." –Karma Brown, #1 international bestselling author of Mother Is Watching
"An atmospheric spiral of dread, I Am the Monster Under the Bed is smart, scary, and compulsively readable. If you're a fan of Riley Sager, Jason Rekulak, or Jennifer McMahon, you won't want to miss this one." –Scott Carson, nationally bestselling author of Departure 37
“Emily Zinnikas seamlessly weaves childhood horrors and a homecoming thriller into a stellar, truly memorable debut about the nature of monstrosity. The human cruelties and mysteries are even darker than the things that lurk under our beds and in our basements. I loved it, and I can’t wait to see what she does next!” –Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of ROAD OF BONES and CARRY ME TO MY GRAVE​
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"Complex characters and a delicious mystery make this debut horror novel a spine-tingling delight." –Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Rockton novels
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"A wonderfully dark and creepy story about monsters, people who are turned into monsters, and some who just choose to be monsters." –Peter Clines, New York Times bestselling author of the Threshold series
