Better the Devil
by Erik J. Brown
High School    Storytide/HarperCollins    400 pp.
1/26    9780063338326    $19.99

What begins as a queer identity–focused young adult novel quickly turns into a dark mystery. The teen protagonist has fled his West Virginia home because his parents intend to send him to conversion therapy. After living on the streets for eight months, he is caught shoplifting and arrested. In order to escape charges, the boy assumes the identity of Nate Beaumont, a child who went missing years earlier, and becomes part of a loving Maryland family. While the faux Nate contends with his growing mountain of lies and attempts to establish relationships with his new family, he experiences moments of unconditional love but also begins to question strange, sinister occurrences. He finds acceptance with a childhood friend of Nate’s who runs a true crime podcast, and the two secretly team up to piece together what happened to the actual Nate, but they quickly become involved in a situation full of dangerous twists and gruesome violence. While an action-filled narrative drives the plot, readers get to know characters whose likability duels with the suspicions against them. The story questions how far beyond reason a person might go to feel accepted—or to exert diabolical control. A compelling thriller that is not for the faint of heart.

From the January/February 2026 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.