Before the Devil Breaks You (Diviners Series #3)

by Libba Bray

Overview

The Diviners are back in this thrilling and eerie third installment by #1 New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray.

New York City.

1927.

Lights are bright.

Jazz is king.

Parties are wild.

And the dead are coming...

After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that early claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough of lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror. Out on Ward's Island, far from the city's bustle, sits a mental hospital haunted by the lost souls of people long forgotten—ghosts who have unusual and dangerous ties to the man in the stovepipe hat, also known as the King of Crows.

With terrible accounts of murder and possession flooding in from all over, and New York City on the verge of panic, the Diviners must band together and brave the sinister ghosts invading the asylum, a fight that will bring them fact-to-face with the King of Crows. But as the explosive secrets of the past come to light, loyalties and friendships will be tested, love will hang in the balance, and the Diviners will question all that they've ever known. All the while, malevolent forces gather from every corner in a battle for the very soul of a nation—a fight that could claim the Diviners themselves.

Heart-pounding action and terrifying moments will leave you breathless in the third book of the four-book Diviners series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316126069
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Series:	Diviners Series , #3
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	57,968
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.80(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Libba Bray is the #1 bestselling author of The Diviners, Lair of Dreams, the Los Angeles Times Book prize finalist Beauty Queens, the 2010 Printz Award-winning Going Bovine, and the acclaimed Gemma Doyle trilogy. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Before the Devil Breaks You:

* " [A] gripping, unsettling read that peels back the shiny surface of the American Dream. Like the ghosts facing the Diviners, Bray's novel has teeth."—Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

2017-10-26
This third installment in Bray's speculative historical-fiction series continues to spin the stories of its large ensemble of supernaturally gifted characters in 1920s New York City.The patients and staff at the fictional Manhattan State Hospital for the Insane (Bray discusses mental illness in an author's note) are terrorized by murderous ghosts as the novel opens, quickly setting the tone of atmospheric horror that has characterized this epic. This draws in the Diviners, who must confront a menacing otherworldly figure called the King of Crows. The tale is told in two parts, and details of imagined government conspiracies are laced with heartbreakingly realistic injustices such as racism, anti-Semitism, and maltreatment of the mentally ill. The diverse protagonists are intricately developed; poet Memphis and his young brother Isaiah are black; Ling is Chinese and Irish-American, uses leg braces and crutches, and is both demisexual and lesbian; Sam is Jewish; Theta and Evie are white, as is Henry, who is gay. While readers might be surprised that what seems like the lead-up to a showdown between dimensions doesn't materialize, there is no shortage of action to keep them going: ravenous ghosts, Shadow Men, secret bands of anarchists, and first sexual experiences, among them.A solid middle entry that will satisfy readers hooked on this series—and leave them eager for the next. (Historical/paranormal thriller. 14-adult)

Kirkus Reviews