The Bad Ones

• Author: Melissa Albert
• Genre: YA Horror
• Publication Date: February 20, 2024
• Publisher: Flatiron Books

Thank you to YA Books Central and Flatiron Books for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can find my YA Books Central review here.

CONTENT WARNING: grief, death of a parent (off-page), blood, mention of sexual assault, self-harm, bullying, toxic relationships, homophobia, murder, religious intolerance

A SUPERNATURAL HORROR NOVEL ABOUT MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES IN A TOWN HAUNTED BY A SINISTER MAGICAL HISTORY.

In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace. 

Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local lore: a legendary goddess figure that played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games…

An arresting, crossover horror fantasy threaded with dark magic, The Bad Ones is a poison-pen love letter to semi-toxic best friendship, the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief.

After reading Our Crooked Hearts, I knew that I had to read this one. I’ve really been looking forward to it, and the premise just sounded so good, that I couldn’t wait to see what Albert would do with it. It kind of falls into the multi-genre category that I typically love the best, and this one combines elements of horror, fantasy, mystery, paranormal, and coming-of-age.

Nora, the MC, is interesting in that she didn’t fit in as a kid, and didn’t quite grow out of it. That doesn’t mean that she has no friends, though. Becca was a friend that she made early on, and the friendship became very close very quickly and stayed that way until recently. The contributing event to their estrangement is explored in flashbacks from both Nora and Becca’s perspectives. Nora has also amassed a few friends that just kind of accept her weirdness, and have common interests with her.

Becca is an interesting character, mainly because we see so little of her through her own eyes, and so much of her through Nora’s perspective, and how it changes over time. Their friendship starts as that obsessive childhood friendship phase that can occur, yet they never really seem to grow out of it. There’s something that happens to change the dynamic and create a break between them, although they’re both aware of each other, going to the same school and living in the same town. 

I couldn’t put this book down. Between finding out what happened that summer night to come between the girls, figuring out what really happened in the town’s past, understanding how the goddess game ties into the disappearances, why those specific people were chosen, and what happened to them, there was so much to uncover in this book. Obviously, it’s no surprise that I flew through this read and found surprises at every turn. Albert successfully navigated the multi-genre combination, and allowed for plenty of depth in her characters. One of my favorite aspects of the story is the way she holds space for the wide range of emotions that the characters are feelings, swinging from grief to worry, fear to anger, frustration to attraction, lust to vengeful. This one is another solid read from Albert.

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit.

Gasp Factor: 13

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