"Nicole Willson’s The Keeper of the Key is a tense and twisty contemporary Gothic that kept me reading late into the night. Supernatural and domestic terrors combine to propel this story, focused on themes of trust and control. I found the imagery and situations truly frightening!”
—Christi Nogle, author of the Bram Stoker Award® winning novel Beulah

“Nicole Willson has crafted a riveting story with a fierce protagonist. Brave and honest, Rachel stands strong in the face of terror and is unafraid to speak truth to power. An inspiring YA heroine.The Keeper of the Key is gripping gothic horror you won't want to put down.”
— Meghan Arcuri, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author

There are a thousand things sixteen-year-old Rachel would rather do than upend her life to move into Morgan House, an old, run-down mansion owned by her mom’s boyfriend, Geoff.

But when her mother announces they’re relocating to St. Mary, Virginia to live with him, Rachel’s cut off from her friends and life as she knows it. St. Mary is a remote, lonely place, and the best thing about it is Nick, a guy she knows is worth keeping when he takes her to a cemetery on their first date.

Rachel struggles to get along with Geoff and his mile-long list of annoying house rules—in particular, his bizarre insistence that she stay out of the basement. But something in Morgan House plays by its own rules. At night, an unknown force pulls Rachel down to that forbidden cellar, showing her harrowing visions of a strangely familiar man lurking in the shadows. When a sudden tragedy strikes her family, those visions become more frequent—and more violent.

The dead issue urgent warnings, and if Rachel doesn’t heed them, she’ll become part of Morgan House forever.

From the author of the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Tidepool comes a chilling new gothic horror novel that will sink into your bones.