Review: Fiend by Alma Katsu

- March 23, 2026

Historical horror maven Alma Katsu turns her talents to the modern world for the first time, in this terrifying tale about an all-powerful family with an ancient evil under its thumb.

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

I was hoping for something creepier. Every time I found myself liking one of these characters, they did something that changed my mind. The twist was definitely unexpected.

Fiend by Alma Katsu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars
This was a little slow at the beginning, but when it starts to pick up, it gets a little more interesting.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import/export companies in the world. They've always been lucky, their rivals not so much. They suffer health problems, natural disasters, or legal exposure. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas.

According to the patriarch Zef, they're blessed. His three children know their place: Dardan, as the only son, must prepare to take over as the keeper of the family secrets, Maris, much to her dismay, must marry strategically, and the youngest, Nora, needs to stay out of the way.

But when things stop going as planned, the family blessing starts to look more like a curse.

The reveal was surprising and not something I would have guessed.

Thanks so much to the author and Putnam Books/Penguin RandomHouse for this ARC to review.

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