Novel; releasing September 15, 2026 from Titan Books
art by Julia Lloyd
Pre-order: Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Libro.FM, Waterstones, Politics & Prose, Amazon, Penguin Random House
“Gripping, spooky, and strange in the best way, this is a stunner.”
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A woman haunted by the disappearance of her sister and best friend thirty years ago uncovers the terrifying urban legend behind the last film they watched together, in this chilling riff on the cursed film subgenre by the Bram Stoker award-winning author of Queen of Teeth.
Perfect for fans of Gretchen Felker-Martin and Andrew Joseph White.
In November 1994, three girls visit their local movie theater to see an obscure film. Only one of them is ever seen again.
Thirty years later, Val McQueen has never forgotten the day she lost her little sister and best friend, but she’s closed the curtain on it, certain she’s moved on despite her parents’ resentment and hounding by true crime enthusiasts.
That is until a stranger’s murder brings it all screaming back—a terror she’s tried to tell herself is only a movie. Enlisting the help of cinephile and former classmate Roxie de la Fontaine to find the film, Val soon realizes that hers is not the only pursuit. Someone or something involved with the movie is on the hunt, too…
… For the girl who got away all those years ago.
“The price of that cult movie, it might be your soul.”
– Stephen Graham Jones, NYT-bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and Night of the Mannequins
“This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want is a fun, creepy, and thrilling twist to the cursed film genre, with more than a hint of King in Yellow, that will keep you guessing and compulsively turning the pages. The Toad Man will like you best.”
– Paul Tremblay, author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
“Piper’s prose belongs in a museum—the kind where a strange alchemy spreads through the walls at night, and all those monsters and bones and pillaged treasures come wickedly to life.”
– Rachel Louise Adams, author of No Rest for the Wicked
“Piper delivers cosmic terror for cinephilic queers in a book filled with gorgeous, eerie, unforgettable imagery, mind-bending twists, and characters you want to scream at through the page like you’re at your favorite horror movie.”
– Samantha Josephs, author of Carrying
“You haven’t experienced meta horror until you’ve read it through Hailey Piper’s warped lens. This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want is a neo-noir ode to movie magic that reels you into its cosmic nightmare and leaves you trembling in the dark while the final credits roll.”
– Brian McAuley, USA Today-bestselling author of Breathe In, Bleed Out
“A cosmic horror thriller whose price of admission may be more than you realize, resurrecting an all new meaning to the phrase ‘cult classic’.”
– Maxwell I. Gold, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own