Jessica Goodman meets The Agathas in this taut, twisty YA thriller set in the glittering world of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where secrets—and bodies—never stay buried.

For the New Orleans elite, the Les Masques Ball is sure to be the social event of the season—if they can avoid another dead Queen. When debutante Margot Landry was found dead the morning after her reign at last year’s ball, it was a tragedy, but not a shocking one. Margot was a wild child with a self-destructive streak, nothing like this year’s Queen, Lily LeBlanc. With a perfectly poised debutante on the throne, everything is going according to plan…until the ball is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume.

That night, Lily sends a text to three of the Maids on her royal court—her best friend, Vivian; her boyfriend's sister, Piper; and April, her former frenemy—asking them all to meet the next morning. But Lily never shows up.

On the surface, these three debutantes don’t have anything in common except their exclusive private school and their ties to Les Masques. But soon, they realize why Lily brought them together: something dark is lurking beneath the glamorous surface of the debutante world, and it might be the reason she disappeared. And the further the girls dig, the more they begin to suspect that Margot's death may not have been an accident—and that Lily may be next.

When the Jester starts threatening to expose their own secrets, this unlikely trio must team up to uncover the monsters behind the Mardi Gras masks—before they’re left with another dead debutante.

From the bestselling author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho, comes an absorbing new novel that holds a mirror up to our culture’s obsession with fame, glamour, and celebrity. This haunting, pulse-pounding psychological thriller explores the destructive power of jealousy, greed, and control.

Set in the exciting worlds of fashion and cinema, The Winner Stands Alone takes place over the course of twenty-four hours during the Cannes Film Festival. It is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love—his ex-wife, Ewa.

Believing that his life with Ewa was divinely ordained, Igor once told her that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back. As the novel unfolds, the conflict between an individual evil force and society emerges, and morality is derailed. Meet the players and poseurs behind the scenes at Cannes—the "Superclass" of producers, actors, designers, and supermodels, as well as the aspiring starlets and jaded hangers-on.

Paulo Coelho uses his twelfth novel to paint an engrossing picture of a world overrun by glamour and excess, showing us the possibly dire consequences of our obsession with fame.