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 where 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
"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
"A wonderfully dark and creepy story about survivor's guilt, 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
"Willa is the center of Zinnikas' debut, and readers will enjoy getting to know all three versions of her. As a child, Willa made friends with a presence under her bed. It—or he—likes to be read to and doesn’t like it when Willa’s mom vacuums under the bed, but Willa doesn’t seem afraid. Teenage Willa is known as the sole survivor of the Rapture Mystery Slayings. In her hometown of Rapture, seven teens went into the woods but only Willa came out. The last Willa is adult, reclusive artist Willa. She has hidden from her past, sort of, but is found by reporters and the memories start coming back to her. This leads her to start asking questions about the mystery slayings. Whether readers like Willa or not, she is a very interesting character to meet in compelling circumstances. Fans of the TV series Yellowjackets and the novels of Riley Sager will enjoy this suspenseful horror story." - Booklist
"We were spellbound by this chilling novel about confronting monsters, both literal and figurative. Fifteen years ago, six teenagers died in the woods outside the town of Rapture, and Willa was the only one who came out alive. With the community convinced she must be the killer, Willa fled Rapture and built a new life until her identity was finally exposed. Returning home for the funeral of a beloved former teacher, she must reckon with the terrifying truth she’s been hiding from. The psychological side of Willa’s experience is intriguing and sensitively handled, with her enduring trauma smartly woven through the narrative. But we were even more absorbed in the eerie aspects of her story, from the shadowy figures lurking in the basement of her childhood home to the unfolding mystery of what really happened to those six teens. This brilliant combination of emotional depth and nail-biting suspense has us thrilled to see what debut novelist Emily Zinnikas does next." - Apple Books
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