Burden Falls

Product Description \nRiverdale meets The Haunting of Hill House in the terrifying new thriller from the author of Harrow Lake. "Cinematic, clever, and creepy, with a main character that leaps off the page, Burden Falls ticks off all my moody thriller boxes." —Goldy Moldavsky, New York Times bestselling author of The Mary Shelley Club and Kill the Boy Band\nThe town of Burden Falls drips with superstition, from rumors of its cursed waterfall to Dead-Eyed Sadie, the disturbing specter who haunts it. Ava Thorn grew up right beside the falls, and since a horrific accident killed her parents a year ago, she's been plagued by nightmares in which Sadie comes calling—nightmares so chilling, Ava feels as if she’ll never wake up. But when someone close to Ava is brutally murdered and she’s the primary suspect, she begins to wonder if the stories might be more than legends—and if the ghost haunting her dreams might be terrifyingly real. Whatever secrets Burden Falls is hiding, there's a killer on the loose . . . with a vendetta against the Thorns.\n"Reads like a horror blockbuster in the best way possible." —PopSugar\n"Superb." —
BCCB\n"A great scary story with an even mix of heart and blood."
—SLJ \n"Gritty...Spine-tingling...Twisty." —
Kirkus\nReview
"Maintaining her knack for spooky suspense, Ellis keeps the tension taut, delivering a gritty whodunit, a spine-tingling supernatural story, and a twisty psychological thriller all in one." —
Kirkus\n"
Burden Falls reads like a horror blockbuster in the best way possible.” —PopSugar\n"Superb . . . Tingling eerie creepiness and satisfying jump scares. The setting gives maximum fear factor with an ancient house with dark corners and even darker secrets; a gloomy, claustrophobic forest with deep shadows; and a waterfall that can bring absolution or retribution." —
BCCB“Well done and keeps the pace fast. Ava and her experiences with grief and loss will also resonate . . . A great scary story with an even mix of heart and blood. Recommended.” —
SLJ
About the Author
Kat Ellis studied English with Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University before going on to work in local government communications. She now writes young adult fiction full-time and, when she's not writing, can be found exploring ancient ruins, watching horror movies, and spoiling her cats.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
ONE
A year after I (almost) died
The manor echoes as I walk along its hallways. It sounds like a tomb—­and I would know.
I stop at every room, checking to make sure I haven’t left anything behind. Not the furniture or the paintings; not the grand piano I never had the patience to learn to play. All those things are long gone, either sold or dragged out of here by the movers. No, what I’m doing is cataloging, mapping every corner of every room in the place I grew up. Fixing it all in my memory like I’m sealing it in wax. Thorn Manor, the home of my parents, and all the Thorns who came before.
Here is my parents’ room, with the wallpaper covered in songbirds, and the big bay window where Mom used to spend Sundays reading because she said it had the best light.
Here is Dad’s office, which was always officially off-­limits, though he kept a box of my favorite candies in the top drawer of his big walnut desk for whenever I snuck in to see him. The room is an empty box now, with only faint impressions on the blue walls where Dad’s nineties grunge posters used to hang.
Here is Grandpa’s study, where his green wingback chair sat next to that dark oak fireplace. The scent of pipe smoke and apples still clings to this room, like he’s become a part of it. Mom would’ve said it’s his ghost, “And there’s always room for one more in Thorn Manor.”
Uncle Ty and Carolyn’s room still has a few boxes left inside—­the last items they’ll be bringing to the new cottage. It’s almost time for the three of us to leave. We’re the last in a long line of Thorn