Killer House Party

It’s all fun and games until doors start bleeding, carpets devour stabbing victims, and exits lock down during a haunted house party fundraiser in this scary-snarky thriller by Anderson (Scout’s Honor). Afro-Latina Arden Lazano Flack would skip graduation and jump directly to college if her divorced real estate agent parents didn’t blow her tuition savings to buy the long-abandoned, likely haunted Deinhart Manor. Arden’s best friends, Mexican American Maddy May and white Remi, assert that everyone wants to party in a haunted house, and encourage her to plan a get-together in the manor as a tuition fundraiser and alternative to the school-sponsored Sober Grad Night. With her friends’ help—and keys pilfered from her parents’ office—apprehensive Arden throws a rager. The party promises social and financial success—until all the scary rumors about the house start to come true. With her trademark snappy dialogue, Anderson elevates high school drama and haunted house horror tropes. The characters’ steadfast found family dynamics and individual motivations and future goals are a hopeful undercurrent, even as Arden’s dreams of life after high school morph into a real-life nightmare. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laura Zats, Headwater Literary. (Oct.)