A wealthy, highly effective household seemingly untouchable by the legislation or competitors, the Berishas have a popularity as a sinister household. Are they blessed? Are they cursed? Eldest daughter (and second of three Berisha kids) Maris feels she is healthier suited to take over from patriarch Zef, relatively than her older brother Dardan. Her youthful sister Nora is inconsequential, too involved with making issues proper and hoping to redeem the Berisha title. Effectively, one thing darkish simply might need been serving to to guard the Berishas and Maris desires in on the household deal, she’s extra ruthless than Dardan. In different phrases, extra like father Zef than Zef desires to confess.
The Berisha household runs one of many largest import-export corporations on this planet, they usually’ve all the time been fortunate. Their rivals undergo strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fireplace. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing crops, destroying dangerous proof. Issues all the time appear to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.
Not less than that’s what Zef, the patriarch, has all the time informed his three kids. And every of them is aware of their place within the household—Dardan, as the one male inheritor, should put together to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets and techniques, Maris’s strongest contribution, a lot to her dismay, shall be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, because the youngest, is to simply keep out of the best way. However when issues cease going as deliberate, and the household blessing begins wanting extra like a curse, the Berishas start to splinter, every hatching their very own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of many richest households on this planet with out spilling slightly blood, however this time, it is likely to be their very own.
Household secrets and techniques begin to come out. In the beginning of the novel, a whistleblower who as soon as labored for the Berisha household is ready to be a key witness in opposition to the Berishas. The household is worried, however the night time earlier than this traitor is about to testify, he’s discovered lifeless in his resort room. The story is that this whistleblower/informant hanged himself, however one thing extra sinister could have occurred.
As my opening paragraph recommended, Maris is the principle standpoint character in Fiend. Removed from likeable, to say she’s obtained a nasty perspective is an understatement. She thinks little or no of her siblings, has a boy toy on the facet who she retains a secret, and he or she’s described as bodily unattractive – in look and demeanor she could be very a lot her father’s daughter. Regardless of all of this, I discovered myself feeling empathy for her. She appears the one who’s most suited to take over the Berisha empire from the growing old Zef, however solely males could be the clan chief, the ladies are to marry and bear a male inheritor. Reasonably archaic, however Maris’s frustrations and hope for ascension to the highest of the clan and enterprise, and any shred of emotion or fatherly love from Zef offers her a depth of empathy that balances out the unsavory character traits.
Zef frequently states how he’s defending Maris from being the pinnacle of the clan, the burden that comes with it’s one thing he doesn’t need her to bear. Zef even moved out of the household dwelling right into a secluded residence to guard his household from this burden. A part of that “safety” is maintaining his household away from him due to his legendary, nightmarish mood. Rivals of the Berisha’s know of Zef’s mood and the way crossing him or igniting that anger results in some darkish penalties.
There are familial rumors of a “protector” who has prevented any fall from grace for the Berishas and their enterprise, a “protector” that has maybe had a hand within the demise of enemies of the Berisha clan. There may be even a long-held delusion a few darkness that has been with the Berisha clan for tons of of years, this darkness has stored the Berishas elevated, feared, and remoted. Perhaps having a protector is extra of a curse.
Fiend is a brisk, quick novel (virtually novella size), however Katsu manages to pack an awesome deal inside the pages – archaic sexism, company corruption, and classism amongst others. These themes are woven powerfully and pure into the story. Interspersing flashbacks into the modern-day occasions permits Katsu to imbue quite a lot of depth and historical past to the Berisha household.
I obtained the texture of this story being a contemporary fable and folk-horror. I significantly cherished the passage when a quick historical past of the Berisha clan going again to the previous nation of Albania. That individual scene was revelatory for me, added weight to the story, and enhanced the fable-like really feel of the story I used to be already feeling.
Fiend is a splendidly darkish story that magnificently attracts a really skinny line between darkish fantasy and the truth of the world by which we dwell.
On a private notice, I grew up subsequent to an Albanian household named Berisha. Let’s simply say I really feel a barely uncomfortable resonance with the fictional Berisha household depicted in Fiend and the Berisha clan that lived subsequent to me and in and round my hometown.
© 2025 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | G.P. Putnam’s Sons
September 2025 | 256 Pages
Excerpt: Fiend Excerpt
Overview copy courtesy of the writer, G.P. Putnam’s Sons
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