When 17-year-old Mara moves into a decaying orphanage-turned-boarding-school, she starts hearing voices through the vents - soft, childlike, begging her to come play. But the "Quiet Room" on the third floor - the one sealed with chains and nailed shut - isn't on any map of the building. And sometimes, at night, when the lights flicker, she sees shadows pressed against the walls, as if something inside is trying to get out. The teachers refuse to talk about it. The other students vanish one by one. And Mara is starting to realize - the thing in the Quiet Room isn't trapped. It's waiting.

The entire novel is written from the villain's perspective, but he's aware he's in a book. He knows you - the reader - are watching. And he doesn't like it. He mocks you for judging him, tests you, manipulates you, even predicts your reactions as you read. Sometimes the pages talk to you. Sometimes they talk about you. And sometimes, the book goes quiet - like he's thinking about something he shouldn't say... but does anyway. The villain doesn't just tell his story. He rewrites it while you're reading. Whole paragraphs shift tone mid-sentence - from charming to violent - as if you're watching his mind glitch in real time. And the deeper you go, the more he starts to blur your role. By the middle, he starts asking you questions like: > "Why are you still here? You like this, don't you?" "If I told you to close the book now, would you?" "You say you hate me, but you haven't stopped reading." By the final chapter, it's not clear if he's talking about his crimes - or yours You think you're safe because you're the reader. You're not. I know you. You clicked this book because you wanted to understand the villain - to peek behind the curtain, to see how the bad guy thinks. Cute. But here's the thing: villains don't tell stories. We rewrite them. And by the time you finish this, I'll have rewritten you. I'm not a character. I'm the consequence. Of your curiosity. Your hypocrisy. Your secret fascination with people like me. Keep reading. Pretend you're different. I'll wait. - Robert Yanney The Villain