If I’d known that overcast Tuesday would set off a chain of events that would turn me into a killer — that I’d end up scrubbing someone else’s blood off my hands — I’d have stayed in the safety of the taxi.

 

At an ancient Scottish university, eighteen-year-old Felix arrives hoping to outrun his past. He quickly falls under the spell of five strangers who will change his life forever—fierce Jess, who becomes his anchor; quiet Julian; the Sarah duo; and Colin, golden-haired and impossible, the kind of boy who makes Felix forget his own name.
 

For a brief, shimmering moment, it feels like home. Late nights, shared secrets, the dangerous comfort of being chosen. But as Felix studies the darkest corners of the human mind, the world outside grows darker too—the Aberdeen Ripper has returned.
 

When Jess becomes his next victim, her death sends fractures through everything Felix thought he understood. The friends he trusted. The boy he wanted. The person he was trying to become.
 

Her final gift: a lighter and three words. Keep shining bright.

But Felix will discover that not every murder is what it seems—and sometimes the real monsters are the ones we let closest.

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