A Darkness Lives There: Release Date, Story and Heath House Mystery

By Ahaqir Ishaq

A grieving daughter, a missing ex-girlfriend and a mansion with a troubling history: Rebekah Faubion’s A Darkness Lives There brings an intimate family mystery to a haunted-house setting. The upcoming YA psychological thriller now has a confirmed U.S. release date: June 15, 2027.

When will A Darkness Lives There be released?

Penguin Random House’s official listing schedules the Delacorte Press novel for June 15, 2027, in hardcover, ebook and downloadable audiobook. The print edition is listed at 400 pages.

What is the story about?

Olivia Beckett intends to transfer to NYU after a year at her local college. Her mother’s mysterious drowning interrupts that escape, and unsettling visions follow.

When Olivia’s ex-girlfriend disappears, she joins forces with Logan, her former school rival, who has returned from Harvard and is working at the local newspaper. Their investigation leads to Heath House.

Why is Heath House central to the mystery?

The mansion was once owned by the town’s wealthiest man. Its ghost-story reputation conceals a history of missing girls and coverups, with connections to Olivia’s family. The publisher also promises a growing attraction between Olivia and Logan and a story told through two perspectives.

The unanswered question is how these strands fit together. A house can preserve evidence, conceal a crime or become the focus of a town’s collective fears. Which role Heath House ultimately plays remains something readers will need the finished novel to discover.

What has Rebekah Faubion said about the book?

In an October 9 interview with Out South Florida, Faubion described the novel as crossover YA and her tribute to haunted-house horror. That positioning may interest adult horror readers as well as the book’s teenage audience.

Faubion also discussed the personal origins of the story in PEOPLE’s exclusive first look. She connected its development to questions about family history, mental health and whether inherited accounts of the past can be trusted.

That raises an intriguing possibility: uncovering the truth may require Olivia to reconsider the stories she has grown up hearing. This is an interpretation of the announced premise, rather than a claim about the ending.

Why this upcoming thriller caught my attention

For me, the strongest hook is the collision between a personal loss and a public mystery. Haunted-house fiction becomes especially interesting when discovering what happened inside also changes someone’s understanding of their own family.

I will be watching how the novel balances investigation with atmosphere. The premise offers reasons to ask both what happened to the missing girls and why their stories remained hidden.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook