Cover design by Alan Lastufka and Eight Little Pages.

Face the Night: A Novel

🥇 Award Winner
★ Starred Review

“Outstanding… an impressive, complex horror tale… reminiscent of early Stephen King.”
– Kirkus Reviews, starred

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Publication Date

March 8, 2022

Print Length

328 Pages (Hardcover)
368 Pages (Paperback)

ISBN

9781733691925 (Hardcover)
9781733691932 (Paperback)
9781733691949 (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
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…
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

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