First published 2026
Lailah has a place to sleep, a family who wants her, and an attic room all her own in the house at Tumbling Hills. The Martins, Alison, Nathan, their daughter Dru, and Lailah, moved in together and it felt right from the start. The adoption paperwork is nearly done. For a kid who has waited a long time, this should be the good part. But Lailah's intrusive thoughts have been getting louder. Not worries exactly, commands. Push your sister down the stairs. Crack an egg into the coffee machine. Burn them alive in their beds. She retreats to the attic when they come, trying to keep a wall between what she thinks and what she does. Then bad things start happening in the house, and Lailah can't be sure anymore where the wall is. The family starts watching each other. Alison and Nathan pull in different directions. Dru keeps her distance. Everyone loves each other, and that love is exactly what makes the fractures so hard to look at. Lailah is running out of time to figure out what she is really afraid of: that she'll hurt them, or that they'll finally let her go.
Genres: horror, contemporary, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: dark, intimate, tension-filled, thought-provoking, unsettling
Tropes: found-family, isolation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Tumbling Hills
352 pages · Paperback · Angry Robot
Content warnings: mental-illness