A seemingly untouchable, ultra-powerful and rich family in NYC, and their secret is an ancient, omniscient demon… FIEND is the new contemporary horror novel from literary horror maven Alma Katsu.
The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed. At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.
“The idea for FIEND started with my obsession with Succession and then took shape as I watched the television series Dopesick and considered the opioid crisis and the widespread damage caused by the Sackler family. Of course, the Sacklers weren’t the only wealthy and powerful dynastic family getting away with murder and other terrible things. I decided to create the Berishas, an all-powerful, mega-rich family in New York that seems untouchable by the law and by its rivals and has been blessed with good fortune for generations. And it turns out that the Berisha family’s power stems from an ancient demon that’s in full control of them,” said Katsu.
Katsu is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of eight novels. Her books have been nominated and won multiple prestigious awards including the Stoker, GoodReads Readers Choice, International Thriller Writers, Locus magazine, the Western Heritage Awards, Spain’s Celsius 232 festival, and appeared on numerous Best Books lists including NPR, The Observer, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Goodreads, and Amazon. She has written two spy novels (Red Widow and Red London), the logical marriage of her love of storytelling with her 30+ year career in intelligence. She also writes novels that combine historical fiction with supernatural and horror elements. The Hunger (2018), a reimagining of the story of the Donner Party, was named one of NPR’s 100 favorite horror stories, was on numerous Best Books of the Year lists, and continues to be honored as a new classic in horror. Her first book, The Taker (2011), was named one of the top ten debut novels of 2011 by Booklist. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and several are in various stages of film and television development. Ms. Katsu is also a contributor to the Washington Post Book World, where she reviews thrillers.
Katsu was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, the daughter of an American-born father and a Japanese-born mother and grew up in Massachusetts. She recently relocated from the Washington, DC area to the mountains of West Virginia, where she lives with her musician husband Bruce and their two dogs, Nick and Ash.
FIEND is currently on sale where books are available.