The Nudge

A new horror novella from the creator of Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn't Dead featuring fifteen original illustrations from Night Vale series artist Jessica Hayworth.

On the open road, evil doesn't chase you. It waits . . .

Late one night, a wounded man checks into a remote roadside hotel. He's running from something he can't explain or escape. And over the course of a night, he'll tell the hotel's proprietor how his life fell apart.

It started with his wife. Subtle changes. Smiles that didn't belong to her. Then violence-sudden, intimate, almost casual. Therapy offered hope. Recovery seemed possible. Until it wasn't. He believes a hidden influence has attached itself to him, one that never forces, never commands. It whispers. It suggests. Nudges people toward their worst impulses.

Now the man wanders the country as a fugitive, hoping to break free from the evil that's wormed its way into him. But as our narrator's story unfolds, he begins to question whether he's fled far enough . . .

Tense, atmospheric, and chilling, The Nudge is a slow-burn tale of suspense that will linger like a whisper in the dark, long after the story is over.

"Fink's writing style is reminiscent of his other works . . . unnerving readers just enough over the course of the work to truly horrify them by the end . . . The book could slot neatly onto a shelf next to a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's or Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, but Hayworth's grayscale graphite illustrations may make readers recall the feeling of first discovering a collection of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark-and then becoming too unsettled to sleep . . . Will resonate with classic horror fans as well as Night Vale devotees." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review