The Bully

Advance Reader Copy

Genres

Dark Fantasy, Scandinavian Fiction, Psychological Horror, Supernatural Horror, Coming of Age, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Suicide, Death, Profanity, and Violence

Type of Ending

AI Usage^Beta

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Goodreads

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Nov 20, 2026

Page Length

254 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

The Bully

Advance Reader Copy

Blurb

For those who stayed. And those who couldn’t.

Below the tower and Mørkved Hills lies Øyerstad. They say the boundary between life and death is especially thin in the village, and that the two sometimes bleed into one another. Some of the locals claim to have heard them. The dead. In the shadows. Perhaps that is why they fall so quiet on their way to the churchyard to light candles on the many graves.

There are whispers at the checkout in the store and outside the mobile pharmacy. People gossip about those dancing to rockabilly down at the dance pavilion in Øyervika, drinking far too much moonshine and making out with people they have no business making out with.

Below the Esso station stands the house where Emma and Oliver live. Emma is Oliver’s mother. She calls him Superman because he wants to be a superhero when he grows up. Oliver dreams of having a dad like the other kids at school. The village rumor mill goes wild in the summer of 1987 when a new tough guy turns up on their doorstep. He kisses Emma and gives Oliver a brand-new remote-controlled car. Then things go quiet for a while, until Emma gets beaten.

At the café, people say you should be careful what you wish for. Some say Emma deserved it. Oliver, the superhero, does nothing.

They call him a coward.

If only they knew…

What people are saying...

"The Bully is a dark, genre-defying psychological novel about trauma that grips the reader until the very last sentence. Genuine horror, showing how evil and sadism can take root in people and destroy lives."

- Per Ivar Hjeldsbakken Engevold, author and editor

Details