Midnight Showing

by Megan Shepherd

Overview

Discovering her father’s strange final manuscript has brought only mayhem and darkness to Haven Marbury’s life. In Book Two of the Malice Compendium, what has leapt of the page threatens everybody.

"Gripping, chilling, creepy, and enthralling . . . Malice House channels Shirley Jackson." —Katherine Howe, New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

"Beautifully written and steeped in Gothic lore, Malice House explores themes of family and legacy, magic and curses, and the mysterious power of stories." —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls

Now both hunter and prey, Haven travels far and wide to discover the contours of her family curse and escape the worst of her late father’s creations. Constantly looking over her shoulder, she fears Uncle Arnold the most. His irresistible whispers compel victims to commit horrifying deeds, and he’s hungry to use Haven’s abilities to rewrite the world to his liking.

Drawn to the desert scrublands and Hollywood mansions of California, Haven discovers a string of murders that point directly to members of her family. Given shelter by a mysterious benefactor, Haven and her sister forge questionable allegiances, using some otherworldly creatures to hunt down others. And when the trail of death ends at a studio from the Golden Age of horror films, reality and fiction become the strangest of bedfellows indeed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368091039
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Series:	Malice House
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	222,657
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Megan Shepherd is a New York Times best-selling and Carnegie Medal–nominated author who grew up in her family’s independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of many acclaimed novels and now lives and writes on a historic farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her family, an especially scruffy dog, and several ghosts.

Author Website: https://www.meganshepherd.com

Read an Excerpt

THE DREAMS ALWAYS began with smoke.
 
Restless in a cramped hotel bed, in a hiccup of a town halfway down the jagged Portuguese coastline, my sister stole the sheets and muttered sleep-talk beside me while I dreamed again of smoke. There was a shade of paint called Vantablack that was rumored to be the darkest known pigment, but this smoke was darker yet somehow, drinking in all light. The smoke seeped out from under the hotel bed mattress, devouring the color from the room until it had expunged the sunny yellow from the walls, leaving the space grayscale, like an old movie. A dark promise snapped in the air like lightning.
 
I sat up in bed, sunken-eyed, watching myself from outside my own body. Another hotel room, another town. We’d been traveling so long they all blended together. The smoke from under the bed slowly took shape as it pulled itself into a pillar the size of a person, then inclined over me in wormlike form. Immobile, I could only watch as it hovered, hovered, hovered, and then crashed down into a thunderclap of black soot—
 
I jerked awake. For real this time.
 
Sitting up with a gasp—touching my face, assuring myself I was awake—I checked for Kylie’s slumbering body next to mine. She was there. She was safe. Her chest lifting and falling slowly, her lips silent now.
 
I sagged back against the pillows.
 
How long had it been now—two weeks? Since we’d boarded the plane in Salt Lake City bound for Portugal, hungry to follow the trail of clues my father had left behind, meager crumbs that might lead us to our family, to answers. We hadn’t had much to go off: a thirty-year-old Lisbon return address on an envelope and town names mentioned in his short stories. Winemakers, he’d called the Acosta side of the family. Occultists. Artists. As though being an artist was the worst thing a person could be.
 
The thing was, I was starting to believe he was right.

Editorial Reviews

"Megan Shepherd has done it again! I raced through MIDNIGHT SHOWING, completely enthralled in the tightly woven web of twists, turns, and old Hollywood urban legends. THE MALICE COMPENDIUM is quickly becoming my favorite series!"
   —Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Roots and Ruin

(On Malice House) “Haunting and atmospheric, Megan Shepherd expertly blends horror and suspense in her captivating book-within-a-book adult debut. Beautifully written and steeped in Gothic lore, Malice House explores themes of family and legacy, magic and curses, and the mysterious power of stories.”
   —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger

(On Malice House) "Gripping, chilling, creepy, and enthralling, Megan Shepherd's new thriller Malice House channels Shirley Jackson, if Shirley Jackson knew how to make me check under the bed every night before going to sleep. Malice House is a must for readers who love gothic horror, creaking old houses, attics overflowing with dark secrets, or for anyone who has ever secretly suspected that there is an entire other universe hovering just out of reach."
   —Katherine Howe, New York Times bestselling author of Conversion and The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

(On Malice House) “This book, like Malice House itself, contains many secrets, and you will read it voraciously to try to find and consume them all. May it compel you as swiftly as it compelled me."
   —Chuck Wendig, NYT bestselling author of Wanderers and the Star Wars: The Aftermath trilogy 

(On Malice House) “In her adult debut, Shepherd (Midnight Beauties) conjures up a twisted tale—made up of even more twisted tales—perfect for adults nostalgic for Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark.”
   —Library Journal

(On Malice House) “All is not what it seems at Malice House, and Shepherd uses the conventions of a gothic haunted-house tale to keep readers on the edge of their seats. In her adult debut, bestselling young adult author Shepherd has written an intensely spooky and scary tale about the power of stories and the art of creation. Highly recommended."
   —Booklist (starred)

(On Malice House) "Each word of this novel felt like a blade down the spine, chilling and haunting and perfectly crafted. Megan Shepherd weaves a story like no one else, and Malice House is no exception."
   —Shea Ernshaw, New York Timesbestselling author of A History of Wild Places

(On Malice House) "Shepherd's deft adult debut is a propulsively charming nightmare, pooling like spilled ink across your imagination. Count me a happy resident of Malice House amidst all its monsters." 
   —Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of Hide

(On Malice House) “Utterly original and exquisitely terrifying, Malice House unfolds like a carefully crafted mystery. Every twist and reveal drew me deeper into its walls and the monsters within refused to let me go. Like a bone-chilling Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children for grown-ups.”
   —Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It

(On Malice House) “Turn on all the lights before you start Malice House, and plan to stay up late. Megan Shepherd's novel is a sophisticated, gothic tale that will keep readers turning the pages and guessing what's next until the very end.”
   —Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds

(On Malice House) “Beyond phenomenal! This book scratched an itch I’ve had since reading Night Film years ago. I adored every second! Malice, and all its denizens, are going to linger with me for a very, very long time to come!”
   —Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Roots and Ruin

(On Malice House) “Megan Shepherd crafts a seriously tight mystery with plenty of red herrings, shocking twists and even a few jump scares, making it a chilling thriller with a totally immersive setting. At the same time, it is a deliciously dark fantasy that is a true testament to the power of stories and perfect for any book lover who has ever wanted to step inside a book or has been obsessed with a favorite author (bad idea, says Haven). Haunting, full of secrets and strangely charming, Malice House is perfect for readers of Leigh Bardugo, Shea Ernshaw and Katherine Howe.”
   —Bookreporter

From the Publisher

09/01/2023

In this sequel to Shepherd's adult debut, Malice House, Haven is on the run from her family curse, her personal demons, and literal monsters, accompanied by her half-sister Kylie. Uncle Arnold is their biggest fear, with his uncanny ability to bend others to his terrible will. Determined to use Haven's curse—the ability to create real-life monsters from her drawings on paper—and Kylie's curse—the ability to create reality simply by writing the words—they seek shelter with mysterious producer, hacker, and horror aficionado Donovan Robles, or as his online persona is called, SlasherDasher, in the hills of Hollywood. What follows is a hunt for a killer who seems to be targeting Haven and Kylie's bloodline, complete with monsters of the worst kind. The hunt's conclusion is as gut-wrenching as the horror screenplays sprinkled throughout this joyride of a novel, but Haven's personal journey has an even more heart-wrenching conclusion. VERDICT For fans of horror and Hollywood (and Holly-weird) and for any creative who has contemplated the nature of art, the concept of reality, and a creator's responsibility for their creations.—Alana Quarles

Library Journal