8 Sinister Stories Featuring Secret Societies

It seems like all the best (and deadliest) secret societies are part of schools. CURIOUS TIDES is no exception, with the students of Aldryn College for Lunar Magics having a deadly clique of their own. When a subpar healer named Emory is the sole survivor of a horrific drowning, she gains powers that defy the laws of the universe. On the hunt for answers, she runs into this exclusive club, which all of the drowned students were supposedly a part of. However, Emory’s powers, and the drowned students who come back only to die again hours later, catch the attention of this sinister group, and not with the best of intentions. As engrossing as it is thrilling, CURIOUS TIDES is a perfect choice for fans of dark academia or school-based fantasy!

We’ve all made mistakes we regret, and for Nina, that was walking away from the Saturn Club, an elite alchemy-and-occult secret society that gave her connections and access. She thought leaving would be the best idea for her, but three years later, all she has are debts, doubts, and the tarot deck she got during her Saturn Club initiation that has been helping her stay afloat. But when Max, her friend and a superelite member of the group, asks her for a favor, she takes it as a chance to get back in with the group. What she didn’t plan on was getting dragged into a conflict between societies on the most fun and most dangerous night of the year: Saturnalia. Full of shifting alliances and dark secrets, SATURNALIA is a can’t-miss book for those who love the autumnal spirit of suspense and darkness.

Secrets can sometimes run in the family, and for Mary Jekyll, her family carries around a doozy. After her parents’ untimely demises, she goes on the hunt for her father’s old “friend,” Hyde, who is wanted for several murders. During her search, she stumbles onto Hyde’s daughter, a feral child named Diana who lives with (and terrorizes) nuns. Will Diana be the key to finding Hyde and helping Mary get the money she needs, or are there more sinister secrets afoot involving a secret society of immortal and immoral scientists? THE STRANGE CASE OF THE ALCHEMIST’S DAUGHTER doubles as a who’s who of classic literature, with Sherlock Holmes and John Watson as well as some of the daughters of other literary fiends of the era. 

Joining a secret society is all fun and games until someone tries to steal your child because she has a rare and super valuable ability. Hunter is part of Our World, an elite group that has controlled most of the world’s most valuable treasures for centuries. But when Hunter’s daughter shows signs that she has the rare innate ability to spot precious artwork, Hunter breaks away to protect her from a life of crime and danger and to protect a priceless artifact from falling into the society’s hands. Too bad the murderous Zhivago is on his tail, and he’ll stop at nothing to get the artifact and continue Our World’s control. Hot off the presses, CALL ME HUNTER is a ticking-clock thriller that will have you glued to the page.

Like peanut butter and jelly, secret societies and the chosen-one trope just go together hand in hand. In LEGENDBORN, that chosen one is Bree Matthews. Like most chosen ones, she’s not doing so great: her mother died in an accident, her childhood home is stifling, and she’s desperate to find a way out of her circumstances. Thankfully, a special program at UNC–Chapel Hill gives her that freedom…until she witnesses a supernatural battle that drags her into the world of mages and demons. And just like that, Bree is on a quest to uncover who these “Merlins” and their secret society are, and how it ties into her mom’s death. This is the perfect read for someone who loves a little (or a lot) of adventure in their fantasy novel, with a main character who will have you rooting for her from page one!

Usually, secret societies are run by (and often exclusively for) men, but in THE MAIDENS, it’s the women who are running the show behind the scenes. At Cambridge University, The Maidens rule the school, and one of their favorites is Edward Fosca, a classics professor who may have a dark secret. At least as far as Mariana Andros, a therapist and alumna, is concerned. She thinks Edward is a murderer who is responsible for the mysterious murders of a handful of students on campus. But is Edward really committing these sinister deeds under the protection of The Maidens, or is Mariana spiraling deep down into the conspiracy rabbit hole? The only way to find out is to dive headfirst into this dark and twisted page-turner!

There’s just something about medieval secret societies that are so sinister, mysterious, and dangerous. For such a group to exist for so long, there must be something powerful about them. When Ann Stilwell gets assigned to work at The Cloisters, the medieval offshoot of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum, she finds that her fellow curators at The Cloisters are a bit obsessed with their conspiracies around the branch’s collection. However, Ann starts to buy into their tales when she finds a fifteenth-century deck of tarot cards that seems to predict the future. Are there darker forces at play, and just how much do her coworkers know about the power of the museum’s collection? THE CLOISTERS is a Gothic tale of art, magic, and what stories can do when we give them power and attention.

We’ve all had that class wherein a few best friends huddle together and make everyone else feel excluded, right? They’ll sit in a corner, sharing inside jokes, going off to lunch on their own, and holding secret meetings where they turn bunnies into boys. Maybe that last part just refers to the experiences of Samantha, who has a strange relationship with the four girls in her MFA Creative Writing program known as The Bunnies. But when she’s given the opportunity to join them and learn about their weird, wild nights, Samantha finds herself both drawn in and put out by what she finds. A metaphorical take on the creative process (and how messed up MFA cohorts can be), BUNNY is a story about keeping your friends close, your enemies closer, and your animal-turned-human creations closest of all.