Gravity Falls meets Five Nights at Freddy's in this thrilling lightly gothic YA graphic novel, for those who love a dash of camp and a dollop of darkness.

It’s just a bedtime story….right?

Parents in Pensmouth tell their children a devious bedtime tale—their beloved town is riddled with flesh-takers, monsters who snatch unruly kids off the street if they don’t go to sleep on time.

Vivian Vance, amateur teen detective, heard that story as a kid and never believed it.

When Vivian takes on a case in the Pillars, a downtrodden and long-ignored community beneath the highway, she stumbles on a dark secret about her town's history and finds herself face-to-face with those horrifying monsters. Saved from certain death by a group of kids from the Pillars, Vivian decides her next job will be exposing the flesh-takers to the world--at any cost. 

But her biggest opportunity quickly becomes her worst nightmare. Her pride puts Pensmouth and her new-found friends in mortal danger. In order to right her mistakes, she must stand up to the creatures that offer all her heart desires before she loses the only people left who matters.
Josh Ulrich is a professional cartoonist from Jacksonville, Florida. He has been working in comics for over a decade and completed three graphic novels in his Jackie Rose series, both independently and with the digital publisher NAVER Webtoon. He has also completed over a thousand pages of comics for his series Newman, which is also digitally published through NAVER Webtoon. In his spare time, Josh enjoys fishing, kayaking, and painting miniatures. View titles by Josh Ulrich
A KIRKUS BEST YA OF 2024

★ "Modern mystery fans have a new heroine to save them from the creatures that go bump in the night. ­Perfect for anyone who loves mystery and monsters, Vivian Vance will fly off the shelves in any library." —SLJ (starred review)

★ "[C]lever sleuthing, shocking revelations, and a disquieting closing twist." —Kirkus (starred review)

★ "A creepily captivating story that will satisfy a wide range of readers." —Booklist (starred review)

"The fast-paced storytelling, a possibility for romance, and monster-related tension that finds little relief until the very end will have readers—especially those with a Stranger Things-sized gap in their hearts—turning the page to find out what happens next." —BCCB

About

Gravity Falls meets Five Nights at Freddy's in this thrilling lightly gothic YA graphic novel, for those who love a dash of camp and a dollop of darkness.

It’s just a bedtime story….right?

Parents in Pensmouth tell their children a devious bedtime tale—their beloved town is riddled with flesh-takers, monsters who snatch unruly kids off the street if they don’t go to sleep on time.

Vivian Vance, amateur teen detective, heard that story as a kid and never believed it.

When Vivian takes on a case in the Pillars, a downtrodden and long-ignored community beneath the highway, she stumbles on a dark secret about her town's history and finds herself face-to-face with those horrifying monsters. Saved from certain death by a group of kids from the Pillars, Vivian decides her next job will be exposing the flesh-takers to the world--at any cost. 

But her biggest opportunity quickly becomes her worst nightmare. Her pride puts Pensmouth and her new-found friends in mortal danger. In order to right her mistakes, she must stand up to the creatures that offer all her heart desires before she loses the only people left who matters.

Author

Josh Ulrich is a professional cartoonist from Jacksonville, Florida. He has been working in comics for over a decade and completed three graphic novels in his Jackie Rose series, both independently and with the digital publisher NAVER Webtoon. He has also completed over a thousand pages of comics for his series Newman, which is also digitally published through NAVER Webtoon. In his spare time, Josh enjoys fishing, kayaking, and painting miniatures. View titles by Josh Ulrich

Praise

A KIRKUS BEST YA OF 2024

★ "Modern mystery fans have a new heroine to save them from the creatures that go bump in the night. ­Perfect for anyone who loves mystery and monsters, Vivian Vance will fly off the shelves in any library." —SLJ (starred review)

★ "[C]lever sleuthing, shocking revelations, and a disquieting closing twist." —Kirkus (starred review)

★ "A creepily captivating story that will satisfy a wide range of readers." —Booklist (starred review)

"The fast-paced storytelling, a possibility for romance, and monster-related tension that finds little relief until the very end will have readers—especially those with a Stranger Things-sized gap in their hearts—turning the page to find out what happens next." —BCCB

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