The invocations / Krystal Sutherland.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Three girls, one supernatural killer on the loose . . .

Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to consider--that her murdered sister is gone forever and there is nothing she can do about it. Rather than grieving and moving on, Zara decides she will do whatever it takes to claw her sister back from the grave--even trading in the occult.

Jude Wolf may be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul has been slowly turning necrotic. It's a miserable existence marred by pain, sickness, and monstrous things that taunt her in the night. Now that she's glimpsed what's beyond the veil, Jude's desperate to find someone to undo the damage she's done to herself.

Enter Emer Byrne, an orphaned witch with a dark past and a deadly power, a.k.a. the solution to both Zara's and Jude's problems. Though Emer lives a hardscrabble life, she gives away her most valuable asset--her invocations--to women in desperate situations who are willing to sacrifice a piece of their soul in exchange for a scrap of power. Zara and Jude are willing, but they first have to find Emer.

When Emer's clients start turning up dead all over London, a vital clue leads Zara and Jude right to her. If a serial killer is targeting her clients, Emer wants to know why--and to stop them. She strikes a tenuous alliance with Zara and Jude to hunt a killer before they are next on his list, even if she can't give them in return what Zara and Jude want most: a sister and a soul.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

PROLOGUE A GIRL walks home alone at night. It's All Hallows' Eve in London, and the street that stretches before her is empty, quiet except for the soft thud of her boots on the sidewalk and the rustle of autumn leaves plucked by the wind. Hazy sodium lights struggle to shift the dark. The girl is dressed as a witch. Cartoon-green skin, pointy hat, a fake wart on her nose. She is coming from the Electric Ballroom, where, at a Halloween concert with her housemates, she saw the boy she likes kissing a girl dressed as a sexy angel. It immediately made her regret her costume and want to go home. Now she slips through the gap between two buildings, past the canal-side pub she goes to with her friends in the summer. A girl sits on the other side of a window decorated with bat decals, her face smeared with blood. A couple in matching hot-pink jumpsuits are breaking up on a bench. The girl takes a few steps onto the footbridge that leads over the water and down onto the towpath on the other side. It is here, on the bridge, that she pauses. The canal beneath her is a thin snake of shallow water. On a clear day, you can see the algae-coated detritus that collects at the bottom: the bicycles, the shopping trolleys, the tires. Tonight it is black and impenetrable. If you didn't know its depth, you might think it fathomless. Across the water, the bars and restaurants of Camden Market are still busy with the Halloween crowd. Men and women in costumes cluster around the spaceship-red glow of outdoor heaters, laughing, drinking mulled wine out of steaming mugs. Ahead, the footbridge slopes down to the towpath that winds alongside Regent's Canal, below street level. The girl hovers at the edge of the dark, weighing her options. Usually she avoids the canal after sunset. It is unlit. It is the kind of place she has been told all her life to avoid for the simple fact that she is a girl--but tonight she is cold and drunk and sad and hungry for the leftover pad thai she knows is waiting for her in the fridge. The path by the water is the shortest, fastest route home. Yet something tells her not to go any farther. Perhaps it is the memory of what happened to her on another night like this one. The stranger waiting in the dark, all the warnings she had been given growing up suddenly manifesting as flesh and breath and muscle. Then the girl remembers the words at her wrist and runs a fingertip over the cool metal letters sunken into her skin. Words that took her a year to find. Words that mean she no longer has to fear the night or anyone who might be lurking in it. She crosses the bridge. She plunges down into the blackness. The first part of the walk is fine. The path is narrow and cobbled. The canal is bordered on both sides by converted warehouses turned into blocks of fancy flats. Light from their windows reflects on the smooth surface of the water, creating an eerie mirror world just below the real one. Houseboats sit snug against the canal's edge, the smell of woodsmoke clinging to the air around them. A huge, fat dog sits atop one, watching her as she passes. The sounds of revelry dissolve into the distance, but there is still life here. Still people to hear her, if she were to scream. She crosses beneath a bridge. It is mauled with graffiti and lit with shocking blue light to discourage drug use. Combined, they make the place feel dangerous. She moves on quickly, back into the waiting shadow. The next stretch of the walk is worse. There are no more houseboats. There are no more fancy flats. There is no one to come to her aid. There's more greenery along the side of the path, vines and brambles that don't lose their foliage as the nighttimes turn to frost. She moves closer to the water, wary of attackers hidden in the creepers. The girl crosses under a second blue-lit bridge, and then a third that's rancid with the stink of urine. She makes it to the base of the stairs that leap up out of the darkness and onto the brightly lit street above. A girl walks home alone, but not alone. She feels him before she sees him. There's no sound, or movement, or smell. Just some primordial response left over in the blood from a time before humans were humans. A sudden prickle of fright in her gut. A displacement of energy that makes her gaze snap back over her shoulder and brings her footsteps to a stop. Her eyes find the figure immediately, standing stationary on the path. He's a slip of shadow, nothing more. No face, no weapon, nothing to indicate that he might do her harm. Just a man. But she is a girl. And she is alone. And it is night. And that is enough. She ducks her head and takes the stairs two at a time, but tries to do it casually, the way women do when they're afraid but trying not to look rude. She forces herself not to run. There's no need for desperate measures. Not yet. He's just a man on the towpath at night. It would be rude to run. And sometimes. Well. Sometimes, if you run, the monster chases you; this she learned the hard way. So she climbs, step after measured step, up, up into the light. The staircase spits her out on Gloucester Avenue, only one street from her flat. She waits under a streetlight to see if the man will follow her, but he does not. She breathes a sigh of relief and turns for home. It's a sloe-black, moonless night. The kind that beckons demons out of the liminal world and brings them into this one, hungry to feed on the souls of the living. London is full to bursting with magic, dark and dangerous, if you know where to look . . . and she knows, now, where to look. A dog barks. The girl looks up and stifles a yelp with her hand. The figure from the canal is somehow standing on the sidewalk directly in front of her. Closer than he was the first time. The girl stops again. Stares. Her heart crashes inside her chest. She takes small, gasping breaths as she tries to understand the logistics of what has just happened. How could he have followed her? How could he have overtaken her? How could he have moved so quickly? There's no way. There's no way. Then she remembers the words at her wrist. There's no need to fear anymore. There's heavy shadow to her right, the deep, wet shadow that trees cast in the forest. The girl moves toward it, into it, lets it devour her, and-- She steps from a bank of shadows on the next street over. A little out of breath. A little frazzled. She looks around. She's alone again. She went where the figure could not follow. Into one shadow, out of another. A small smile on her face now, she again heads toward her flat, only a few buildings away. The price she paid for this power--blood and money and soul--was worth it to feel safe. The girl climbs the five stairs up to her blue front door and unlocks it. When she steps inside and turns to close the door behind her, she finds the figure once more, now standing at the bottom of the stairs. He is unmoving and close. So very close to her now. It is impossible. Men cannot use magic. This is what she has been told. This is what she has been promised. Men cannot write spells. Men cannot sear invocations into their skin. Men cannot bind their souls to demons in exchange for power. Men cannot use magic. And yet. Here he is. Again. They stand still, staring at each other. Though--is he staring? She cannot see his face, cannot make out his eyes, his nose, his hair. He is empty space, a black hole from which no light escapes. The girl slams the door closed and scrambles backward. She doesn't bother with the stairs that lead up to her flat on the third floor. She lunges into the shadowed corner of the hall, falls out of another shadow in her kitchen, then fumbles in the sink for one of the dirty knives her housemates are forever leaving to soak. The blade quivers like a water reed in her white-knuckled hand as she watches her front door and waits. Waits for a bang against the wood, a turning of the handle, a horror-movie moment worthy of a scream. It does not come. It does not come. It does not come. And then, when she thinks perhaps she is safe, perhaps he was no more than a Halloween prankster out for a laugh, a pair of strong hands close around her throat. Excerpted from The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Sutherland (House of Hollow) pits three teens against a monstrous evil in this devilishly bewitching novel steeped in dark academia and set in a fantasy London where only women wield magic. Grieving schoolgirl Zara Jones yearns to reanimate her murdered sister while reclusive, queer heiress Jude Wolf seeks peace from a curse that has left her necrotic and tormented by demons. Seeking assistance in their endeavors, Zara and Jude tap Irish-born orphan Emer Byrne, a skilled witch who crafts custom spells for women willing to trade their souls for power "so that they in turn could find their own strength." When a serial killer begins hunting Emer's former clients, the trio reluctantly unite to find the murderer before the perpetrator finds them. Vivid descriptions, mellifluous prose, expert pacing, and a slow-burning romance keep the tension high and the pages turning while intimately written character arcs probe themes of misogyny, grief, and dynamics of gender and power. Sarcastic, wise-cracking dialogue tempers dark topics with droll wit as the twisty, haunting tale unveils multiple horrors such as rotting souls, inhuman evil, grotesque rituals, decaying bodies, and the chilling social inequities that disempower women. The protagonists read as white. Ages 12--up. (Jan.)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--A dark, twisty occult novel about three outcast teens, each drawn to magic for reasons beyond their control. Jude Wolfe, daughter of a billionaire, longs to find a witch to undo the self-inflicted curse that rots her soul and body. Zara Jones is new to magic and is not even sure it exists, but her sister was murdered and the only way she can heal from that pain is to try and resurrect her. Then there is Emer Byrne, an orphaned witch with a mission to help women in need and to get revenge for the massacre of her family. When Emer's clients start turning up murdered, they know it must be related to the invocations Emer has stamped into their souls--magic that has been cut away. The girls must work together to solve these murders, and maybe fulfill what they each are searching for along the way. This is beautifully written and full of gruesome depictions of rotting flesh and information relating to witchcraft and the occult. The main characters cue as white, however supporting characters are diverse. Characters are relatable, and readers will find themselves rooting for this ragtag team of wannabe witches. The girls, while wildly different, form a tight bond and support each other despite many challenges along the way (including developing feelings for one another). The plot moves quickly with twists and turns; readers will find themselves speeding through to reach the explosive, satisfying ending. VERDICT Hand to mature readers who like a little LGBTQIA+ romance with their witchcraft and necromancy.--Ashley Grillo

Booklist Review

Three girls, each mired in her own search for magic, cross paths in this eerie thriller. Jude, daughter of a billionaire, made deals with demons--three, to be exact--and they fight over ownership of her sullied soul every night. She uses her father's money to hunt for a witch who can help her break her deals with part of her soul left. Zara, abandoned by her mother at a young age, has lost her beloved aunt and sister within weeks of each other and wants nothing more than to have her sister back; she will endure anything, even living with her abusive uncle, while she tries to find the magic that can help her. Emer is a witch on the run, living in the shadows that people don't often notice, sneaking food and sleep on a college campus. Sutherland has crafted creepy narratives before (House of Hollow, 2021), and she's in peak form here. Each girl is well written and fully realized, and the stakes are high enough to make this a compulsive read.

Kirkus Book Review

Three young women team up to track down a serial killer who's targeting witches. Jude Wolf became cursed after a deal with a demon went awry; as a result, she was kicked out of her rich and well-connected family. Zara Jones wants to bring her murdered sister back from the dead so she can make amends. They both need the help of Emer Byrne, a powerful type of witch known as a cursewriter. With a dark past of her own, Emer writes invocations that give women power in exchange for letting a demon have part of their souls, turning them into witches. When the trio of women, who are cued white, realize that the serial killer on the loose in London is specifically going after Emer's previous clients, they pool their resources. Jude is independently wealthy, Zara has incredible puzzle-solving skills, and Emer brings her witchy prowess: Together they work to fight back and find the killer. Filled with feminist rage and a sprinkle of queer romance, this lushly written tale methodically builds to a heart-pounding confrontation. Each woman is separately introduced, and then Sutherland expertly weaves together their lives in intricate and fascinating ways. The characters' relationships evolve as the stakes become increasingly dangerous. Although some of the worldbuilding details are waved away, the evocative body horror, distinct and compelling leads, and twisty plot will keep readers immersed in this grisly story. A thrilling and exquisitely grotesque showcase of young women taking charge. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.