Dead First
-
- Pre-Order
-
- Expected Feb 10, 2026
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the Bram Stoker award-nominated author of The Spite House comes a bone-chilling new novel about a private investigator hired by a mysterious billionaire to discover why he can’t die.
When private investigator Shyla Sinclair is invited to the looming mansion of eccentric billionaire Saxton Braith, she’s more than a little suspicious. The last thing she expects to see that night is Braith’s assistant driving an iron rod straight through the back of his skull. Scratch that—the last thing she expects to see is Braith’s resurrection afterward.
Braith can’t die, it turns out, but he has no explanation for his immortality, and very few intact memories of his past. Which is why he wants to pay Shyla millions to investigate him, and bring his long-buried history to light.
Shyla can’t help but be intrigued, but she’s also trapped by the offer. Braith has made it clear that he knows she’s the only person he can trust with his secret, because he knows all about hers.
Bold, atmospheric, and utterly frightening, Johnny Compton’s Dead First is spine-chilling supernatural horror about the pursuit of power and the undying need for reckoning.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Texas PI Shyla Sinclair takes on a daunting supernatural case in this taut mystery from Compton (Devils Kill Devils). Shyla is intrigued but apprehensive when she receives a note from Saxton Braith, the billionaire owner of a shipping company, asking to interview her for a job. She sets aside her misgivings and heads to Braith's gothic estate, where, in the midst of their first conversation, Braith's assistant punctures his skull with an iron rod. Despite the flow of blood and brain matter, however, Braith remains alive, and a stunned Shyla is asked to help him figure out why he's unable to die. Tempted by the challenge and the prospect of a multimillion-dollar payday—plus the threat that Braith might reveal an unsavory episode from her past if she doesn't comply—Shyla accepts the gig. For support, she enlists her friend and sometime assistant, Jinh, who recommended Shyla's services to Braith. Despite the fantastical plotline, Compton manages to make the stakes and details of Shyla's investigation feel remarkably grounded. It's a wickedly satisfying whodunit for genre fans looking for something off the beaten path.
