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Table of Contents
About The Book
One of Us is Lying meets A Deadly Education in this fantasy thriller that follows six teenage wizards as they fight to make it home alive after a malfunctioning spell leaves them stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she’s one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he’d already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays—Theo’s punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn’t sit well with any of them.
A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school’s campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.
If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it’s Ren. She’s been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what’s following them through the dark woods…
About The Author
Photograph © York Wilson
Scott Reintgen is a former public school teacher and still spends summers teaching middle schoolers dark fiction and fantasy at Duke Young Writers’ Camp. The birth of his children has convinced him that magic is actually real. He lives in North Carolina, surviving mostly on cookie dough and the love of his wife, Katie. Scott is the author of the Nyxia Triad and Ashlords series and A Door in the Dark for young adults, as well as the Talespinners series and the Celia Cleary series for middle graders. You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @Scott_Thought.
Why We Love It
“This is the fantasy/thriller mash-up I never knew I needed! It’s the perfect pairing of satisfyingly rich world-building and edge-of-your-seat tension that also features a main character I can only describe as Hermione Granger meets Kaz Brekker. Need I say more?”
—Kate P., Editor, on A Door in the Dark
Product Details
- Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (March 28, 2023)
- Length: 368 pages
- ISBN13: 9781665918701
- Grades: 9 and up
- Ages: 14 - 99
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Raves and Reviews
* "A pulse-pounding series launch from Reintgen. Reintgen combines inventive worldbuilding, intricate plotting, and a strongly developed, racially diverse cast to craft a twisty tale of classism, redemption, and revenge."
– Publishers Weekly, starred review, 1/30/2023
* "Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel. Truly fantastic."
– Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Readers craving the electrifying twists and turns of a thriller alongside a healthy dose of magic will find their prayers spectacularly answered in Reintgen’s A Door in the Dark. With dexterous prose, an impellent plot, and characters you can’t turn away from, this story sinks its claws into you and doesn’t let go."
–Ayana Gray, New York Times-bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy
"Magical boarding school students mysteriously stranded in a hostile wilderness? Yes, please. Reintgen blends thriller and fantasy in an absolute page-turner. I love when you don't see the twists coming, and this flawlessly delivers."
–K.D. Edwards, author of The Tarot Sequence
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): A Door in the Dark eBook 9781665918701
- Author Photo (jpg): Scott Reintgen Photograph © York Wilson(0.1 MB)
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