Bride of the Tornado - by James Kennedy (Paperback)

About the Book

"In a midwestern town, a high school girl's life starts to change as the adults in town begin talking about a mysterious event known as Tornado Day and the girl finds herself drawn to the strange boy known only as the tornado killer"--

Book Synopsis

"A powerfully weird, original tale that combines American folk horror with a surreal coming-of-age nightmare."--The Guardian

Stephen King's The Mist meets David Lynch's Twin Peaks in this surreal, mind-bending horror-thriller.

In a small town tucked away in the midwestern corn fields, the adults whisper about Tornado Day. Our narrator, a high school sophomore, has never heard this phrase but she soon discovers its terrible meaning: a plague of sentient tornadoes is coming to destroy them.

The only thing that stands between the town and total annihilation is a teen boy known as the tornado killer. Drawn to this enigmatic boy, our narrator senses an unnatural connection between them. But the adults are hiding a secret about the origins of the tornadoes and the true nature of the tornado killer--and our narrator must escape before the primeval power that binds them all comes to claim her.

Audaciously conceived and steeped in existential dread, this genre-defying fever dream of a novel reveals the mythbound madness at the heart of American life.

Review Quotes

A Chicago Tribune Best Book Of 2023
One of The Guardian's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror books (September 2023)
One of BookRiot's Don't-Miss Horror Novels (August 2023)
One of SciFiNow's Best Science Fiction Books (August 2023)
One of New Scientist's Best New Science Fiction Books (August 2023)
Powell's Bookstore Pick of the Month (August 2023)
A 2024 American Book Fest Best Book Winner for Visionary Fiction

"A powerfully weird, original tale that combines American folk horror with a surreal coming-of-age nightmare."--The Guardian

"Wonderful, improbable...its dream logic unfolds into an epic, bound up in a simple tale of leaving home."--Chicago Tribune

"Strap yourselves in for a super-storm of psycho-sexual intensity: American gothic, full-blown horror, wrapped up in an adolescent coming-of-age tale...don't try to understand, just get swept up and enjoy the ride."--Daily Mail

"A Lynchian sense of creeping nastiness, rooted in the way small-town life can be stifling, pervades a novel that, as its various plot strands come together, has a whirlwind energy that's hard to resist. Four stars."--SFX Magazine

"A genre-bending horror thriller that grapples with adolescent desire and existential
dread in equal measures...gooey, gory, and frightening, Kennedy's latest will appeal to fans of coming-of-age horror."--Booklist

"Kennedy puts an eerie, surrealist twist on the American Midwest, highlighting everything unusual about small-town living... Horror fans who value ambiance over jump scares will want to check this out."--Publishers Weekly

"This genre-defying horror-thriller, delves into surreal, mind-bending depths. James Kennedy, author of Dare to Know is back with more mythical madness of bizarre Americana; painting a chilling portrait of small-town living. Fans of eerie, atmospheric horror will be hooked."--SciFi Now

"Depraved, hilarious, and genre-bending."--Kathleen Rooney, Brooklyn Rail

"Reads like a fever dream wrapped inside of techno-colored nightmare and viewed through a kaleidoscope . . . Kennedy keeps the reader hooked with his vivid descriptions and the narrator's infinite curiosity, trying to make sense of the messy business. Anyone looking for a surreal, supernatural thriller with mysterious undertones will be blown away by Bride of the Tornado."--Manhattan Book Review

"A fever dream for adults who want to be surprised...a high-velocity twister of a ride."--Lori Rader-Day at Chicago Review of Books

"A twisty, startling, atmospheric Midwest Gothic with the unstoppable power of a freight train and the moody ambience of a mist-shrouded diner at midnight. I could not put it down, and the ending left me in pieces."--Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times-bestselling author of Star Wars: Phasma, Bloom, Wake of Vultures, and more

"An utterly unique coming-of-age horror-thriller..deadpan creepy, extremely weird, and totally satisfying."--Laini Taylor, New York Times-bestselling author of Strange the Dreamer and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy

"It's downright unsettling...a wildly original and haunting coming-of-age story."--Cavan Scott, New York Times-bestselling author of Star Wars: The High Republic, Shadow Service

About the Author

James Kennedy is the author of the horror thriller Bride of the Tornado, which the Guardian named one of the "Best Recent Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Novels" in September 2023. James's previous books include the sci-fi novel Dare to Know, which was named by the Times Saturday Review as a Best Sci-Fi Book of 2021, and the young adult fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish. In addition, James is the founder of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create short movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. He also hosts the Secrets of Story podcast with Matt Bird. James lives in Chicago.