The Finalist

For fans of Black Swan, The Finalist is Megan Abbott’s Dare Me meets Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, with echoes of gothic classics like Jane Eyre and The Yellow Wallpaper.

Two years after a devastating injury destroyed her career, legendary ex-ballerina Leanora Karagianni has returned to the dance world as the choreographer of an exciting new ballet. Eden is one of seven dancers invited to a secluded manor house to compete for the lead role, but her traitorous, chronically ill body can’t keep up with her ambition.

Nonetheless, Eden’s gruelling efforts don’t go unnoticed, winning Leanora’s approval and an offer of private lessons. Eden gets swept up in Leanora’s charm, while the other dancers seem to be ensnared in something much darker, as one by one they fall victim to freak accidents, each more alarming than the last.

The competition intensifies, the body count begins to stack up and Eden suspects her competitors are plagued by more than mere misfortune. It seems that the manor has an agenda of its own, and it doesn’t involve any of the ballerinas escaping alive.