He Always Comes Back is a razor-sharp slasher perfect for fans of Riley Sager or the Scream franchise. Self-aware and thrilling, it's an ode to the genre's classics and a clever portrait of pop culture's evolving mistreatment of final girls. This limited-print, deluxe first edition of Elle Engel's debut about is a must-have for book lovers and collectors. Premium features include:
- Stained edges with blood-drip stenciling
- A premium case stamp
- Illustrated endpapers
"A gleefully subversive love letter to slashers." —Christa Carmen
"Engel balances masterful storytelling with a commentary on the voyeuristic nature of true crime." —Booklist
"A razor-sharp filleting of true crime fandom . . . For fans of Clown in a Cornfield, Stephen Graham Jones, and Scream." —Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
A year after surviving the massacre that claimed six of her friends, Billie Danvers is still drowning in guilt, dodging the morbid curiosity of strangers, and searching for answers about that fatal night. But when the killer who upended her life, Carson Cutler, resurfaces and attacks her adoptive family, Billie learns a terrifying truth: she's a Kirkbride, the youngest daughter in a bloodline of women hunted by Cutler for generations.
Every few years, he returns to the Kirkbride family to finish what he started. He kills everyone around them and leaves the Kirkbride women alive to suffer—at least until the next attack.
Determined to break the cycle, Billie and her adoptive sister Lulu head to Kirktown, Billie's ancestral home turned true-crime tourist trap, in search of answers. But the deeper they dig into the Kirkbride history, the clearer it becomes that Cutler's legacy runs deeper—and darker—than anyone imagined.
Chilling and razor sharp, He Always Comes Back is a smart, propulsive slasher about family, infamy, and the monsters we make of both killers and survivors.
Praise
Christa Carmen, author of How to Fake a Haunting and The Daughters of Block Island"He Always Comes Back is a gleefully subversive love letter to slashers that quickly becomes something even smarter, stranger, and more unsettling. Engel's debut is an incisive exploration of survivorhood, family, and the stories we build around violence, delivered with wit, heart, and blood to spare."
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“Billie Danvers wanted to film a documentary inside a mental hospital with her friends. Instead, she finds herself the only survivor of a brutal attack that left her seriously injured. The perpetrator is none other than Carson Cutler, a serial killer who targets victims of his past attacks, though he is unknown to her. As Billie and her adoptive family try to move on, she learns a disturbing fact about her family history, and after they're attacked again at home, she and her sister travel to her hometown in an attempt to get answers. He Always Comes Back is a fast-moving slasher novel, though the action slows in the middle as the focus turns to unraveling the decades-old mystery and unearthing disturbing history. This does not detract; it compels readers to keep going. The case has amassed a large social media following, and Engel balances masterful storytelling with a commentary on the voyeuristic nature of true crime. Billie and her siblings' tenaciousness, courage, and loyalty will have everyone rooting for her to be a survivor once again.”
—Booklist
Billie Danvers is sick of being the final girl. One year after surviving serial killer Carson Cutler’s latest massacre, she both discovers her biological family, the Kirkbrides—the same one Cutler’s been targeting for generations—and Cutler attacks her adoptive family’s home. Billie lures Cutler away from them by fleeing to the Kirkbrides’ small town, while adopted sister Lulu tails her. The town, now a true-crime tourist trap, may offer answers—if Billie and Lulu can survive it. Engel’s debut is a razor-sharp filleting of true crime fandom inside of a queer horror family saga and features a main character who is both intersex and lesbian. Just as harmful to Billie as her disabling injuries and PTSD is her unwanted internet stardom. Interstitials feature Kirkbride history through Tumblr posts, Reddit AMAs, YouTube transcripts, podcasts, and actor interviews that perfectly capture and satirize their forms. Limiting the action to two days keeps the pace frantic and the delicate dance the sisters do around their feelings much more understandable.VERDICT: Engel nails true crime to the wall in a deeply felt queer social commentary slasher about family, legacy, small-town secrets, and unkillable villains. For fans of Clown in a Cornfield, Stephen Graham Jones, and Scream.”Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
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