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Better the Devil

Erik J. Brown

"When a runaway teen is arrested for shoplifting, he's desperate not to be sent back to the hyper-religious parents he knows will never accept him. While at the police station, he notices a resemblance to the aged-up photos of Nate Beaumont, a child who went missing ten years ago--and, in a moment of desperation, he takes Nate's identity in hopes that it will help him make a quick getaway. Before he can run again, Nate's family arrives and welcomes him home to a life he never had. As 'Nate' watches and waits for his chance to escape, he finds that the Beaumonts are nurturing and loving, very different from his own parents. But soon unsettling things start to happen--vandalism, alarms going off in the middle of the night--and it becomes clear that someone knows 'Nate' isn't who he says he is ... and that the real Nate isn't who he says he is ... and that the real Nate wasn't kidnapped, but murdered. As he starts to unravel the mystery, he gets ever closer to the devil he may know--and learns he might be their next victim"-- Provided by publisher.

GenresRunaway teenagersSexual minoritiesFalse personationFamiliesMurderRunaways

392 pages

English edition · First published 2026 by Storytide, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers · ISBN 9780063338326

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