Girls of Prey

The author of the instant international bestseller Julie Chan Is Dead returns with a chilling, atmospheric novel inspired by the classic Chinese tale Painted Skin, in which two sisters on a wintry cabin getaway find themselves trapped by a deadly blizzard with a mysterious teenage girl who may be hiding something far more sinister than they could ever imagine.

Perform their mother's death rites. That’s all sisters Elise and Jade want to do when they drive north through the wintry forests of Canada to the remote cabin where they spent their springs. But their journey takes an unsettling turn when they encounter a beautiful teenage hitchhiker alone in the freezing cold.

The girl calls herself Carmilla. She claims to remember nothing else. Disturbed by her strange behavior, the sisters alert the police, only for Carmilla to disappear into the night. Elise hopes that's the last they'll see of her. But the next morning, she discovers the girl hiding in their cabin's basement—and learns that Jade secretly let her inside.

Now Carmilla has a story to tell: She's escaped from kidnappers who are still hunting her. They're always watching. Listening. Jade believes her, but Elise remains suspicious. When a sudden blizzard severs their connection to the outside world, Elise has little choice but to let Carmilla stay.

As tensions mount within the claustrophobic cabin, Elise’s grief and anxiety begin to manifest as terrifying nightmares and visions of her dead mother. Then Carmilla disappears in the middle of the night, and Elise is forced to consider the possibility that the girl was telling the truth.

Something sinister is lurking in the woods—and it has been watching them all along.