What happens when an elite family has a demon to do their dirty work? Alma Katsu’s Fiend (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025) explores what a rich and powerful family is willing to do to stay on top. All the while, a dark force looms over them in the shadows—always watching, waiting. This family, the Berishas, seems to treat family and love as a business transaction, leaving the reader questioning: “What won’t the Berishas do?”
While Katsu admits that Fiend is a slight departure from her typical horror work, this novel is still a thrilling and suspenseful read. This psychological dive into the minds of billionaires is timely considering many are under scrutiny and losing public favor in the media these days. By choosing to write about a fictional all-powerful family running a massive company, Katsu urges the reader to imagine what types of decisions and sacrifices these sorts of individuals make to maintain the upper hand—with an added layer of the supernatural, of course.
The biggest question that lurks throughout the novel is whether the Berishas’s dark power is a blessing or a curse—if it is real at all. The main character, Maris, grew up hearing the rumors about a “protector” of the family, but she knows better than to believe in superstition. However, her father keeps many secrets from her, and she desperately wants to know how everything always works out for her family. People go missing, buildings catch fire, and tragedy strikes wherever it is most convenient for the Berishas. All Maris knows is that she needs to prove to her father that she is just as cut-throat as he is. Surely, then he will choose her to be the next head of the family over her hesitant brother.
Katsu masterfully drip-feeds the Berisha family’s backstory, gripping the reader with suspense and questions. The main three characters, Maris, Darden, and Nora, are the children of the head of the Berisha family. While most of the story is told from Maris’s perspective, Katsu interweaves sections of Darden and Nora’s thoughts and actions that make the narrative even more enticing as the siblings make decisions against each other. Furthermore, several chapters take place when the siblings are children, building the story and deepening the plot throughout.
Additionally, Katsu takes on themes of sexism in the workplace and traditional family expectations—an unexpected twist on a villainous narrative. Maris is constantly confronted with her worth, or lack thereof, due to her gender. While most readers won’t relate to the problems of the wealthy Berishas, the conversation of gender inequality and familial pressures is something many have experienced. In this way, the supernatural elements of the story don’t overpower the real nature of the characters. The choice to focus on the strained relationships of this larger-than-life family gives the reader a chance to see themselves or someone they know in these characters, even if only for a moment amid deeply immoral decisions.
Fiend is a must-read, chilling narrative on what happens when love is secondary to power. Will greed or family bonds win in the end? Where do the Berishas draw the line?
Alma Katsu
Alma Katsu’s books have been nominated for and won multiple prestigious awards including the Stoker, Goodreads Readers Choice, International Thriller Writers, Locus Magazine, the Western Heritage Awards, Spain’s Celsius 232 festival, and appeared on numerous Best Books lists. She has written two spy novels (Red Widow and Red London), the logical marriage of her love of storytelling with her thirty-plus year career in intelligence. She also writes novels that combine historical fiction with supernatural and horror elements. The Hunger, a reimagining of the story of the Donner Party, was named one of NPR’s 100 favorite horror stories. Her first book was The Taker. Ms. Katsu is also a contributor to the Washington Post Book World, where she reviews thrillers. She has relocated from the Washington, DC area to the mountains of West Virginia, where she lives with her musician husband Bruce and their two dogs, Nick and Ash.
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