The Blonde Dies First
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3.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A group of friends fight to choose their own fates when faced with a demonic force that acts according to horror movie rules in this trope-savvy, “script-flipping hair-raiser” (Publishers Weekly) from the acclaimed author of Their Vicious Games.
Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it’s a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early—The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by…a demon?
But while there’s no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn’t feel very demonic at all. In fact, it’s downright human—going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle.
Devon has never liked playing by anyone else’s rules though, not even a demon’s, and the longer this goes on, the more she feels Drew and Yaya slipping away from her even as she tries to help them all survive. Can they use their horror movie knowledge to flip the script and become the hunters instead of the hunted? Or will their best summer ever be their last?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Black 17-year-old Devon Harris is determined not to be forgotten when her identical twin sister Drew graduates from high school a year early and inevitably leaves home for college. Though they've never been "the twins of sitcoms old," Devon plans a perfect summer of fun and bonding; after all, this is the last opportunity she'll have to spend time with Drew and their four neighborhood friends. After the crew mess around with a Ouija board, a "knockoff Slenderman" demon appears, dropping the group into a real-life slasher film and throwing a wrench into Devon's "Best Summer Ever." While blonde Devon evades the demon's initial attempt to kill her, she's not ready to celebrate—after all, isn't the blonde supposed to die first? In keeping the stakes high and the twists coming, Wellington (Their Vicious Games) deftly dismantles horror genre cliches in a script-flipping hair-raiser that pointedly examines gentrification's impact on communities. Murky logic occasionally drives the supernatural chills, but the story sizzles with fully drawn protagonists, complex relationships, and slow-burn romance as portrayed through Devon, whose struggles to understand Drew and express her love for another girl haunt her throughout every step of this subversive Brooklyn-set summer thriller. Ages 14–up.
