Thrall - by Rebecca Mahoney (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Thrall, a young woman looking for a transformative college experience is bitten by a vampire and must team up with his other living victims to hunt him down.

Twenty-three-year-old Lucy Easting has at last broken free from her grim home life and is ready to truly live. But her long-awaited new beginning at Rollins University isn't what she expected. After attending the first campus party of the year, Lucy awakens the next day with a memory block...and two puncture marks on her neck.

She tries to piece together what happened that night, but every lead brings her to another dead end. Until she receives a handwritten note from the campus radio station, inviting her to call. When she does, the host's soothing voice over the line confirms her worst fear, and the simplest explanation of what's happening to her: she's turning into a vampire.

Lucy teams up with the show's host, who narrowly escaped an attack her sophomore year, and a beautiful archery champion who, while exactly Lucy's type, is as likely to shoot her as kiss her. They believe their "friend with the cold hands" is responsible for the disappearance of several women in town, and they've been tracking him via the airwaves since long before Lucy arrived.

As the vampire's sway over Lucy grows and his plans become clear, she realizes she must fight for a future of her own, or she may not have any future at all.

About the Author

Rebecca Mahoney is the author of the young adult contemporary fantasies The Valley and the Flood and The Memory Eater, as well as the co-creator of independent audio drama The Bridge. Rebecca is a strong believer in the cathartic power of all things fantastical and frightening, and she loves writing about the care and feeding of the monsters in all of us. Her work has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly - in addition, The Valley and the Flood was a Must-Read Title for the 2021 Massachusetts Book Award, and The Memory Eater was a finalist for the New England Book Award.