Darkly

A seemingly ordinary high school student. A mysterious summer internship. And a legendary game designer, now dead, leaving a dark legacy. The New York Times bestselling author of Night Film spins a twisted web in this masterful YA psychological thriller.


What would you kill for?

When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation poses this question, seemingly every high school student in the country rushes to apply. Arcadia “Dia” Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the late game designer whose obsessive creations have attained a cultlike status, ever since she and her mom played Disappearing Act—but Dia has never won anything in her life. So she’s shocked when she’s chosen as an intern, along with six other teenagers from around the world.

Little is known about Louisiana Veda. Her game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious, utterly terrifying toys and games, rife with hidden symbols and secrets. But after Veda’s mysterious death, Darkly went bankrupt and production was discontinued. The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious items commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Now the interns are thrust into the enigmatic heart of Louisiana Veda’s operation, and Dia immediately questions everything. Who are these other kids? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.

As chilling and addictive as one of Louisiana Veda’s complicated and inventive games, Darkly is an intricate labyrinth full of buried clues and hidden connections created by Marisha Pessl, whose dazzling prose and signature powers of imagination will startle, tantalize, and delight readers.