Beholder

By: Ryan La Sala

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

No one survived the party at the penthouse. Except Athan.

Athanasios “Athan” Bakirtzis has made it far in life relying on his charm and good looks, even securing an invitation to a mysterious penthouse soiree for New York City’s artsy elite. But when he sneaks off to the bathroom, he hears a slam, followed by a scream. Athan peers outside, only to be pushed back in by a boy his age. The boy gravely tells him not to open the door, then closes Athan in.

Outside the door, the party descends into chaos. Through hours of howls, laughter, and sobs, Athan stays hidden. When he finally emerges, he discovers a massacre where the corpses appear to have arranged themselves into a disturbingly elegant sculpture—and Athan’s mysterious savior is nowhere to be found. Athan—the only known survivor—is now the primary suspect.

In a race to prove his innocence, Athan is swept up in a supernatural mystery, one of secret occult societies and deadly eldritch horrors with rather distinctive taste. Something evil is waking up in the walls of New York City, and it’s compelling victims toward violence, chaos, and self-destruction. Bound to him by a mysterious hereditary power, Athan has felt this evil hiding behind his reflection his entire life, watching him. Waiting. Now, it’s taking over.

©2023 Ryan La Sala. (P)2023 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC AUDIOBOOKS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

La Sala does it again

I was enchanted by Reverie and The Honeys, so I was highly anticipating this most recent release and man oh man did it live up to my (high) expectations. Nobody does paranormal LGBTQ+ face-the-truth-ugly-or-not like Ryan La Sala. His language is beautiful, and it wakes up inside you and lives there after you finish it.

I just felt the bottom drop away

Words cannot properly express the horror within this story. Twists. Turns. Even backflips. The air within the storyline is foreboding and it's a great ride to the end.

ryan la sala does it again

absolutely adored the many distinct and different voices, it made it so easy to pinpoint whose perspective it was or who was speaking. EXCELLENT voice acting and sound effects!!!!

sublime modern queer love horror masterpiece

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ a SUBLIME masterpiece! Ryan has done it again, I cannot recommend this brilliant, cinematic, brain-clutching book enough.

I am writing this still in a post-read haze of Beholder, one of my favorite books of the year, and as such I can only clack out this review as a series of associative phrases:
Queer Love Story
Cinematic Plotting
Gorgeous Gorgeous Prose
Insane Interior Design
Dark Mirror Mystery
Delicious Dialogue
Pansexual Representation
POV Power
PHENOMENAL LAST LINE

The way the cover is basically the entire book... blows me away. It's so visually striking and resonant, I want a printed poster of the cover to remind me of the fantastic horror adventure contained in Beholder.

I read the audiobook, and HOLY REVERB, the quality of the production and the talent of the voice actor CANNOT be understated. Love love love the way all the different voices are uniquely rendered, even the slight musical touches.

All in all, I'll recommend Beholder to most everyone. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ You'll not regret reading this book! But you'll never see a mirror the same way again.

Decent if predictable story line

Decent story, keeps attention relatively well characters a little one dimensional and the main character, Athan, is a bit whiney. Overall it is a good listen/book, I enjoyed it but I wouldn't call it a horror or thriller novel.