by Laura Steven
First published 2023
Freshman Lottie arrives at the elite Carvell College of Arts determined to solve a mystery. Ten years earlier, four students died in the North Tower murders, forcing the school to close. Now Carvell has reopened, and Lottie wants answers about what really happened. Her aloof roommate Alice discovers a dangerous soul-splitting ritual hidden in the college library. When Alice performs the ritual, it triggers another death in the North Tower. The ritual splits Alice's soul, creating a monstrous alter ego that threatens to take control. Lottie races to uncover the truth behind the original murders while Alice struggles to reverse the ritual before her darker half destroys her. As they work together, the two young women find themselves drawn to each other despite the danger surrounding them. Set against the backdrop of a Gothic campus, their investigation reveals dark secrets about ambition, violence, and the price of forbidden knowledge.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, gothic, college, academia, dark-academia
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Carvell College of Arts, The North Tower
Period: 10 years earlier
448 pages · Paperback · Delacorte Press
Content warnings: death, violence