by Holly Black
First published 2022
Charlie Hall works nights at a bar in the Berkshires, keeping her head down and her past buried. She runs small cons on wealthy locals, nothing that would draw attention from the shadow traders who traffic in human darkness itself. In Charlie's world, people alter shadows like plastic surgery, reshaping them for beauty or power. The magic comes with a price. Every manipulation steals time from your life, hours or days vanishing into nothing. Your shadow holds everything you want to hide, a second self that sometimes moves on its own. When a dangerous figure from Charlie's former life appears, her careful distance from the shadow trade collapses. She finds herself caught between doppelgängers, ruthless billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister. All of them want to control shadow magic, and Charlie stands in their way. Murder follows secrets as Charlie fights to survive a world where your darkest self can be stolen, sold, or turned against you.
Genres: mystery, fantasy, contemporary, thriller, dark-fantasy
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Berkshires
304 pages · Hardcover · Tor Books
Content warnings: violence