FIEND

Succession meets horror in this deeply disturbing novel about a feuding family awash in mon- ey and power.

It explores how they got that way and how they stay that way. What if they had a secret on their side, a superpower more effective than even immeasurable wealth, one that ensured they would keep their vaulted place in the world? Maris is the middle child of Zef and Olga Berisha, part of one of the richest families in the world. Maris doesn't believe her brother Dardan should take over as CEO of the family business. She's the one with the killer instinct. He's too soft, too circumspect. She wants to challenge the patriarchal tradition that has favored Berisha sons for a thousand years. But Maris doesn't know that the head of the Berisha family inherits something else, too: an an- cient curse so powerful that it warps and destroys anyone who dares try to control it. The rich are different from you and me: they're inhuman. In this complex novel, Alma Katsu explores more than corporate greed, she lays bare the power struggle that takes places within all families. Alma Katsu is the award-winning author of nine novels, including The Hunger, The Fervor, and The Deep. Prior to the publication of her first novel, she had a thirty-five-year career as a senior intelligence analyst for several U.S. agencies, including the CIA and NSA, as well as RAND, the global policy think tank. Katsu is a graduate of the masters writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelors degree from Brandeis University. She lives outside of Washington, DC, with her husband, where she is a consultant to government and private industry on future trends and analytic methods.