The Four: The must-read new dark academia psychological thriller of 2024 By Ellie Keel

In The Four, the debut dark academia novel of 2024, an insidious blend of revenge, guilt, and privilege unfolds within the hallowed halls of High Realms. From the moment they arrived as scholarship students, the four outsiders—known as The Four—were marked as dangerous by the privileged elite. They were bound together by their shared status as outcasts and their desire to challenge the power structures that surrounded them.

The narrative is driven by the haunting question of whether Marta, one of the four, should have pushed the prefect Genevieve out of their bedroom window. Such an act, tragic as it would have been, might have spared them from the subsequent spiral of events that tore their lives apart. The story is recounted from the perspective of a member of The Four, who insists on Marta's innocence and grapples with the catastrophic consequences that followed.

As the tale unravels, it reveals the dark undercurrents of their elite school—a place where secrets and lies thrive amidst a veneer of privilege. The intricate web of betrayal and retribution challenges the reader’s perceptions of justice and morality. The narrator’s reflections on the past are tinged with regret and resolve, as they recount the choices made and the irreversible impact on their lives.

The Four is a gripping exploration of the consequences of loyalty and the shadows cast by privilege, echoing the intense psychological drama of The Secret History and If We Were Villains.