Boys are being trained at one school for geniuses, girls at another. Neither knows the other exists—until now. The
New York Times
bestselling author of
Bird Box
invites you into a world of secrets and chills in a coming-of-age story like no other.
NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD • “Josh Malerman is a master at unsettling you—and keeping you off-balance until the last page is turned.”—Chuck Wendig,
Blackbirds
J is a student at a school deep in a forest far away from the rest of the world.
J is one of only twenty-six students, all of whom think of the school’s enigmatic founder as their father. J’s peers are the only family he has ever had. The students are being trained to be prodigies of art, science, and athletics, and their life at the school is all they know—and all they are allowed to know.
But J suspects that there is something out there, beyond the pines, that the founder does not want him to see, and he’s beginning to ask questions. What is the real purpose of this place? Why can the students never leave? And what secrets is their father hiding from them?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, in a school very much like J’s, a girl named K is asking the same questions. J has never seen a girl, and K has never seen a boy. As K and J work to investigate the secrets of their two strange schools, they come to discover something even more mysterious: each other.
Praise for
Inspection
“Creepy. . . a novel whose premise is also claustrophobic and unsettling, but more ambitious than that of
. . .
is rich with dread and builds to a dramatic climax.”
—
The
Washington Post
“This unlikely cross between
1984
and
Lord of the Flies
tantalizes.”
Kirkus Reviews
“Malerman builds a striking world. . . . As he did in
, Malerman’s crafted an irresistible scenario that’s rich in possibility and thematic fruit. . . . Where [
] confined us behind a blindfold,
rips it off.”
The A. V. Club
“A must read . . . It’s a wonderful thing, digging into a new Josh Malerman novel—no idea what to expect, no clue where his twisted mind is going to take you.”
Cemetery Dance