Cover design by Alan Lastufka and Eight Little Pages.

Face the Night: A Novel

🏆 Bestseller
🥇 Award Winner
★ Starred Review

“This outstanding novel is reminiscent of early works by Stephen King and Peter Straub. An impressive, complex horror tale—two (rotting) thumbs up.”
– Kirkus Reviews, starred

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Publication Date

March 8, 2022

Print Length

328 Pages (Hardcover)
368 Pages (Paperback)

ISBN

978-1-733691-92-5 (Hardcover)
978-1-733691-93-2 (Paperback)
978-1-733691-94-9 (eBook)

About Face the Night

★ 100 Best Indie Books of the Year – Kirkus Reviews (Starred)
★ WINNER 2022 Hoffer Award – Best Commercial Fiction
★ FINALIST 2022 American Fiction Awards – Best Supernatural Horror Novel
★ FINALIST 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards – Best New Horror Novel
★ FINALIST 2022 Da Vinci Eye Award
★ SEMI-FINALIST 2022 Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize – Thriller/Mystery

She has an eerie gift for drawing faces. Will one terrifying vision tear apart everything she loves?

Ohio, 1987. Adriana Krause hasn't slept in weeks. Desperate for work to keep her three-year-old son out of her powerful father's controlling clutches, her vivid illustrations land her a job as a police sketch artist. But the only image she can draw is the shockingly mangled visage from her recurring nightmare.

With her disturbed nights spiraling into violent episodes, Adriana's unique talents pull her into the tight-knit small-town's buried secrets. And now fearing she’ll lose her little boy to the madness sucking her down, she's convinced that the monstrous likeness she can't stop scrawling holds the answer to a brutal crime.

Can this struggling mother solve a dark puzzle before her family is destroyed?

Face the Night is a bone-chilling supernatural thriller. If you like complex characters, lived-in settings, and tension dripping from every page, then you'll be transfixed by Alan Lastufka's gripping tale.

Praise

“This outstanding novel is reminiscent of early works by Stephen King and Peter Straub. An impressive, complex horror tale—two (rotting) thumbs up.”
– Kirkus Reviews, starred

“Like a grown-up version of Stranger Things. FACE THE NIGHT is an unexpected pleasure. A compelling blend of small-town mystery and supernatural horror [that] succeeds brilliantly on both fronts.”
– IndieReader

“Suspenseful… shocking… engaging small-town thriller. Great for fans of Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart Is a Chainsaw.”
– BookLife

Face the Night News
March 28, 2024
We sold our 10,000th book last night! Thank you to all our authors, readers, reviewers, and friends for your early support…
November 30, 2023
We’re excited to announce Shortwave founder Alan Lastufka will be included on the TBR CON panel for Small & Midsized Publishers…
April 25, 2023
We’re excited to announce Shortwave founder Alan Lastufka will be included on the StokerCon Panel for Keeping the Artificial out of Art: AI, Bots, and ChatGPT…
December 15, 2022
Kirkus has named Alan Lastufka’s Face the Night one of the 100 Best Indie Books of the Year in their latest issue. Kirkus is the industry standard for professional reviews…
November 25, 2022
The American Book Fest announced the final results of their annual awards this week and Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, was honored as one of only five Finalists for Best New Fiction…
October 24, 2022
The 2022 BookLife Prize by Publishers Weekly announced semi-finalists this morning, and Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, moved on to the next round of judging…
September 8, 2022
The 2022 American Fiction Awards announced the final results of their annual awards last night and Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, was…
July 13, 2022
The Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize just released their Critic’s Reports and Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, received a score of 9.75/10…
May 20, 2022
Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, was named a Finalist today in the Horror category at the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards…
April 29, 2022
The US Review of Books announced the final results of the Eric Hoffer Awards this morning and Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, won the award for…
March 2, 2022
The list of finalists for the da Vinci Eye Award was announced yesterday and Alan Lastufka’s debut novel, Face the Night, is a 2022 finalist…
December 21, 2021
IndieReader reviewed Face the Night today! The review was overwhelmingly positive. Face the Night scored a perfect 5.0 out of 5, meaning it was selected as an IR Approved title…
December 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews awarded Face the Night a starred review today! According to the Washington Post, only 2% of all indie books submitted are awarded a starred review. Only 2%…
December 7, 2021
Publisher Weekly’s Booklife reviewed Face the Night today! And it was very positive. We’re happy to report Face the Night scored straight A’s across the board…
About the Author

Alan Lastufka is a Hoffer Award-winning author and the owner of Shortwave, an independent small press. He writes horror, supernatural, and magical realism stories.

His debut novel, Face the Night, received a starred Kirkus review, was a finalist for Best New Horror Novel at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and won the 2022 Hoffer Award for Best Commercial Fiction. It was also listed as one of the 100 Best Indie Books of the Year by Kirkus.

When he’s not writing, Alan enjoys walking through Oregon’s beautiful woods with his partner, Kris.

alanlastufka.com

Other Titles by Alan Lastufka
🏆 Bestseller
A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Anthology
🥇 Award Finalist