A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

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Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 16, 2026

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Alma Katsu

Featured Title: Fiend
Fiend

Historical horror maven Alma Katsu turns her talents to the modern world for the first time, in this terrifying tale about an all-powerful family with an ancient evil under its thumb.

“If you liked Succession but think it would have been a lot more fun with a 1,000 year old demon, then Alma Katsu’s Fiend has got you covered.” —Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

About Alma Katsu

Alma Katsu is The New York Times best-selling author of nine novels, including “The Hunger” (“supernatural suspense at its finest”-New York Times) and, most recently, “The Fervor” (“a feat of pure storytelling”- New York Times). Her books have won or been nominated for the Stoker, Locus, Goodreads, and Shirley Jackson awards and made best books lists at NPR, Library Journal, Oprah, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and more. Her next novel, “Fiend,” has been optioned for a TV series.

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