The Friend of the Family

Editor’s Pick: The Friend of the Family by Dean Koontz is out now since January 20, 2026.
The Friend of the Family

Author: Dean Koontz

Published

Published: January 20, 2026

Editors’ Pick

Readers also liked these books:

The Husband’s Secret (Colby Agency: The Next Generation #5)
A Case of the Claws
Stone Certainty (Holy Terrors Mystery #2)
The Friend of the Family Release Date: January 20, 2026
Check availability on Amazon
As an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

A girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose in a moving fable about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The human ‘oddities’ in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket. Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers.

Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it. Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it”s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world.

Alida will do anything to help those she now holds nearest and dearest. Empowered with a purpose to vanquish evil, she will not fail her family.

Excitement Rating
[Average Rating: 5]

Genre: Mystery

Dean Koontz

More books from Dean Koontz

For book clubs & dedicated readers


Book club reading journal for tracking discussions and releases

Track your reading and discussions

If you’re following upcoming releases or reading along with a book club, this Book Club Journal helps you keep notes, track discussions, and plan what to read next.

View the Book Club Journal on Amazon

Recommended Book Release Guides
Excitement Rating
[Average Rating: 5]

Similar Books Liked By Our Readers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *