Yet another excellent young adult horror novel by the author of The Hinterlands series.
Four people vanish from four different locations without a trace on a single winter’s night. There seems to be little to connect the four- a teacher, a teen girl and boy, and Nora’s estranged best friend Becca. Although Becca had been acting strangely in the months before her disappearance Nora knows that she would not have just run away. She must follow the clues Becca has left for her, clues that lead her back to a local childhood game about goddesses.
I’ve very much enjoyed everything I’ve read by Melissa Albert. The Hinterlands series is rooted in a dark faerie tale world, while The Bad Ones has its own unique mythology revolving around the goddess game played by the town’s children. But it is also about the incredibly intense and almost toxic friendship between Nora and Becca. Their complicated relationship is explored through flashbacks as Nora is trying to figure out where Becca has gone. The teenagers act in believable though not totally annoying teenager-ish ways and the mystery is compelling. I do love a supernatural young adult horror and The Bad Ones is a fantastic one to try.
