The Spiral Key
On sale
26th February 2026
Price: £9.99
What if your enemy could make your existence hell – both in real and virtual life?
‘An edge-of-your-seat thriller about friendship and ex-friendship, love, loss, and longing, and the need to belong that is as honest and relatable as it is spine-tingling. Don’t miss this one.’ – Jennifer Niven, #1 NY Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places
At the start of each school year, the spiral key invitations go out for Madison Pembroke’s birthday party. For one night, a few lucky students get to enter Ametrine, a virtual paradise designed to be the party of the year – an unforgettable celebration that will secure their social status in the real world. As Madison’s hated ex-BFF, Bree Benson never receives a key.
Until now.
Despite warnings from her boyfriend, Bree sees the invite as an olive branch, the perfect opportunity to rekindle her once-amazing friendship with Madison. But as the party games begin to turn violent, Bree finds that Ametrine might not be the virtual paradise she was promised. And that Madison may have let Bree enter Ametrine, but she has no intention of ever letting her leave . . .
Can Bree turn the tables in time to survive and fight back?
Pretty Little Liars meets Holly Jackson with a dash of Squid Game in this addictive thriller.
‘An edge-of-your-seat thriller about friendship and ex-friendship, love, loss, and longing, and the need to belong that is as honest and relatable as it is spine-tingling. Don’t miss this one.’ – Jennifer Niven, #1 NY Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places
At the start of each school year, the spiral key invitations go out for Madison Pembroke’s birthday party. For one night, a few lucky students get to enter Ametrine, a virtual paradise designed to be the party of the year – an unforgettable celebration that will secure their social status in the real world. As Madison’s hated ex-BFF, Bree Benson never receives a key.
Until now.
Despite warnings from her boyfriend, Bree sees the invite as an olive branch, the perfect opportunity to rekindle her once-amazing friendship with Madison. But as the party games begin to turn violent, Bree finds that Ametrine might not be the virtual paradise she was promised. And that Madison may have let Bree enter Ametrine, but she has no intention of ever letting her leave . . .
Can Bree turn the tables in time to survive and fight back?
Pretty Little Liars meets Holly Jackson with a dash of Squid Game in this addictive thriller.
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Reviews
The Spiral Key is a pulse-pounding read, a sharply written and disturbingly vivid descent into a nightmarish-yet utterly addictive!-virtual reality. Kelsey Day has crafted a speculative horror novel that also provides an unflinching exploration of shame, regret, and the lengths we go to rewrite the reality of our past. Day forces us to confront the uncomfortable truth: sometimes the most terrifying monsters are the versions of ourselves we try to bury.
A smart, deliciously twisty techno-thriller that proves the most frightening realities are the ones we've already lived. I could not put this down.
A sinister, pulsing page-turner about the dark side of queer adolescent friendships and the lengths we will go to for revenge. Nothing about these characters is straightforward or wholly true. Their cruelty-and their vulnerability-will burrow into your brain and stay there.
A twisting thriller, a visceral dissection of dead friendships, and an exploration of how desperation for acceptance can fester into something awful - I had a blast with this one.
Readers' hearts will race right along with the fast-paced, nail-biting narrative, and the well-developed characters will keep readers riveted . . . This gripping thriller, filled with ample queer representation, is a wickedly delicious read
The Spiral Key held me utterly captive. An edge-of-your-seat thriller about friendship and ex-friendship, love, loss, and longing, and the need to belong that is as honest and relatable as it is spine-tingling. Don't miss this one.
Day explores the idea that, without a clear mission, the only thing AI is actually able to deliver is our own regurgitated memories, fears, and egotistical power fantasies. The ultimate villain is wealth, lack of community, alienation, and the furious need for recognition and the adulation it produces.