by Kim Liggett
First published 2017
Clay Tate discovers his father bleeding out on a barn floor, gasping "I plead the blood" as his final words. The seventeen-year-old quarterback's dad had accused the Preservation Society of devil worship before his death, and now the prominent farming families in Midland, Oklahoma won't let Clay forget it. On the anniversary of what locals call "the slaughter," strange things start happening. His longtime crush Ali suddenly wants him back after a year of silence. His rival Tyler Neely acts friendly for no reason. Clay catches sinister stares and witnesses what look like gruesome rituals, but he can never prove any of it actually occurred. The town watches him like he might crack the same way his father did. Clay fights to stay sane while questioning whether the Preservation Society really practices dark magic or if madness runs in his blood.
Genres: mystery, horror, thriller, young-adult
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Midland, Oklahoma
Period: Anniversary
304 pages · Kindle Edition · Tor Teen
Content warnings: death, mental-illness