Beautiful Malice: A Novel
Rebecca James
eBook
(Bantam, July 9, 2010)
An international sensation that The Wall Street Journal called a āpublishing phenomenon,ā this layered, poignant, and chilling novel of psychological suspense is the yearās most stunning American fiction debut. From its wrenching opening to its shocking climax, Beautiful Malice unfolds a haunting story in which people, motives, and circumstances are never what they seem.Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. Sheās done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.Even more unlikely, Katherineās new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesnāt want to be: the center of attention. Yet Aliceās enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Aliceās private circle. But Alice has secrets, tooādarker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Pattersonāonly a descent into a trap far more sinister . . . and infinitely more seductive.