The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

“As I rebuild the WLS archive with books I've read from 2011 through to 2025, I want to build a fully-fledged ecosystem of books I've read and recommend. I'd like to be able to reference and speak to any I've finished. For books I haven't reviewed (or can't entirely remember), please enjoy this brief questionnaire that can help you decide whether it's a read you'd like to pursue. Some of these are favorites I just haven't gotten around to fully reviewing yet—I'll explain in each description, but I hope this Q&A can be illuminating to you in the meantime.”

Bestselling author Melissa Albert returns with The Bad Ones, a supernatural horror novel about four mysterious disappearances in a town haunted by a sinister magical history.

Goddess, goddess, count to five
In the morning, who's alive?

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In the course of a single winter's night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town.

Nora's estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca's disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town's past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local lore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca's own childhood games. . . .

An arresting, crossover horror fantasy threaded with dark magic, The Bad Ones is a poison-pen love letter to semi-toxic best friendship, the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief.

Why Did I Read This Book?

I'm actually so grateful I picked this one up! For some reason, Melissa Albert's debut The Hazel Wood didn't strike me, but I devoured The Bad Ones and it easily became one of my favorites of 2024.

This year, I've been really into this specific horror and fantasy crossover. I've discovered that, although I don't love slashers or gratuitous violence, I love the ability of the horror genre to convey specific themes of love, loss, and nostalgia—thematic considerations that I think work best when you're only confronted with fears that make you grow. For that reason (and others), it's also been a big trend genre-wise over the last few years, especially within YA, so I've been treated to a gorgeous assortment of executions.

Melissa Albert's specific style of narration was beautiful for this particular genre, so her story became a standout.

Existentially, I also think quite a lot about the liminality between belief and non-belief, and that's a major theme in my own book, MOUNTAIN SOUNDS (and a perpetual source of revision-centric anguish.)

What's This Book About?

I talked about this in my review of Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain (another favorite of the year), but I'm a little over the "missing ex-friend or sister" trope. Still, the right author can handle it skillfully—as in this case.

Basically, the main character (whose name I never remember), realizes that her old best friend Becca has been taken. During the same night, a younger kiddo and another teen disappeared. It's part Stranger Things (TV), part The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, part Fury by Elizabeth Miles, and all sorts of eerie overall.

The description itself says that Norah and Becca's relationship is toxic. They definitely outgrew each other, but I don't recall enough magnetism to be able to tell entirely whether they were fully harmful for each other. I understood the gravity of wanting to save someone.

And then, naturally, things spiral.

What Do I Remember Most About It?

I will say that I never find Albert's narrators to be all that memorable. I do forget their names, which is always my litmus test of sorts. Maybe it's that her specific voice is so specific that I think of the narrator as Melissa rather than another entity. For whatever reason, her specific observational distance makes me feel separate from the protagonist. In some works, that's more successful than others.

Of course though, the prose itself is stunning. She's one of the most incredible writers out there—in my opinion—who meets my particular standard of "precise human detail." Everything she uses to set a scene, establish tension, create characterization, etc,. is a detail I curse myself for not having thought of first. She nails this expertise between being exceedingly thoughtful and clear while also rendering any portrait in searingly poetic, striking, and occasionally acidic language. Best of both worlds, and absolute catnip for me.

The tension builds and builds. I found the ending a little confusing, but couldn't put it down. The Bad Ones channels such a dizzying, scary, and elegant mood that I couldn't imagine anything being different—and thus, it's a favorite for being so entirely distinctive and formative.

Gorgeous cover, too.

Who's It Best for?

Of course, horror fans will go crazy for The Bad Ones. Supernatural fans will appreciate the intoxicating elements of the storyline. I remember being in middle school and our English teacher showing us the Doctor Who episode with the blinking angels; this feels similar.

Any YA reader who appreciates beautiful language will of course relish every word of Albert's. Any fan of literary fiction who (how dare you) scoffs at the young adult label may have their misconceptions turned upside down. The Bad Ones embodies the best of crossover fiction—literary to commercial, adult to teenager. The level of detail was absolutely phenomenal, and is the quintessential quality of all my favorite writers. In many ways, it also channels the delicious eeriness of the late '00s paranormal boom.

And of course, I'd absolutely reread The Bad Ones during any spooky season. Since then, I've been hit-or-miss on Albert's other works. When I love them, she knocks them out of the fucking park. When not, they fail to grab me entirely. But when they work, they're unlike anything else out there.

For fans of:

The Haunting of Hill House (TV); that angel episode from Doctor Who (TV); Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke; The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater; Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff; The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff; Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett; House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland; The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson; Fury by Elizabeth Miles; Brittany Cavallaro's observational qualities; Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick; etc,.