Bad Things Happen Here

Rebecca Barrow

Jun 2022 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Carolina Hoyos

About this audiobook

I Killed Zoe Spanos meets The Cheerleaders in this “atmospheric and multi-layered mystery” (Kara Thomas, author of The Cheerleaders) about an island town with a history of unsolved deaths—and a girl desperate to uncover the mystery behind it all.

Luca Laine Thomas lives on a cursed island. To the outside world, Parris is an exclusive, idyllic escape accessible only to the one percent. There’s nothing idyllic about its history, though, scattered with the unsolved deaths of young women—deaths Parris society happily ignores to maintain its polished veneer. But Luca can’t ignore them. Not when the curse that took them killed her best friend, Polly, three years ago. Not when she feels the curse lingering nearby, ready to take her next.

When Luca comes home to police cars outside her house, she knows the curse has visited once again. Except this time, it came for Whitney, her sister. Luca decides to take the investigation of Whitney’s death into her own hands. But as a shocking betrayal rocks Luca’s world, the identity of Whitney’s killer isn’t the only truth Luca seeks. And by the time she finds what she’s looking for, Luca will come face to face with the curse she’s been running from her whole life.

Ratings and reviews

The chapters are very short, so the story moves along at a brisk pace, and with the use of literary devices such as italics to reveal character thoughts and/or speech as well as the change of font to emphasise text messages between them it's written in a way that will be accessible to the intended young adult target audience while remaining accessible given the dark subject matter.

About the author

Rebecca Barrow is the critically acclaimed author of Interview with the Vixen, This Is What It Feels Like, You Don’t Know Me But I Know You, Bad Things Happen Here, And Don’t Look Back, and The Tournament. She is a lover of sunshine, Old Hollywood icons, and all things high femme. She lives and writes in England. Visit her at Rebecca-Barrow.com.