Alex Stern

by Leigh Bardugo

She survived a massacre. Yale's full ride comes with dark secrets. Alex sees ghosts, monitors secret societies, occult magic. Bardugo's adult debut: Stephen King's favorite, Amazon series. Dark academia murder mystery.

Ninth House is a dark fantasy horror novel written by author Leigh Bardugo, published by Flatiron Books in October 2019. The novel follows Galaxy "Alex" Stern, a 20-year-old high school dropout and trauma survivor who can see ghosts, is surprisingly offered a full ride to Yale. Recruited into Lethe, the ninth house, she must monitor the eight secret societies that practice dangerous occult magic. The first in a series, Ninth House was followed by a sequel titled Hell Bent, which was published in January 2023. The third book, Dead Beat, is scheduled for 2026.

Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she's thrown her life away. But at her hospital bedside, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world's most prestigious universities on a full ride. Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale's secret societies.

Peering down from a lofty chair at the rest of the societies is House of Lethe, standing guard to ensure that Yale's unwholesome affairs will not tip everyone into whirling chaos. To this end, and for reasons you'll have to find out, Lethe needs someone who can see ghosts. Galaxy "Alex" Stern trails an army of ghosts that only she can see. Her mentor, the enigmatic Darlington, introduces her to Yale's eight ancient secret societies - Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and others - who wield magic through grotesque rituals involving necromancy, prognostication, and worse.

The novel is Bardugo's first adult novel and, beyond the fantasy elements, is largely inspired by her time at Yale University. Bardugo first became inspired upon discovering the tombs of Yale's secret societies as she walked down New Haven's Grove Street during her freshman year. When a local girl is murdered, Alex suspects the societies are involved - but Dean Sandow orders her to stand down. As Darlington mysteriously disappears, Alex must navigate corruption, class warfare, and her own traumatic past while uncovering a conspiracy involving powerful men using magic for their ambitions.

Award-winning horror author Stephen King called Ninth House "the best fantasy novel I've read in years, because it's about real people. Bardugo's imaginative reach is brilliant, and this story―full of shocks and twists―is impossible to put down." On October 10, 2019, two days after the novel's release, it was announced Amazon Studios would adapt Ninth House as a TV series. Leigh Bardugo is set to executive produce the project alongside Pouya Shahbazian.

Perfect for readers seeking dark academia with actual darkness, explorations of class and privilege through occult lens, trauma survivors as protagonists, murder mysteries intertwined with magic, and adult fantasy that earned praise from Lev Grossman, Joe Hill, and Charlaine Harris alongside King's endorsement.