Dead Beat

Ninth House Trilogy #3

by Leigh Bardugo

Hell is empty and all the devils are here…

Alex Stern made it to hell and back more than once, but this time she left the door open behind her. Demons are creeping through the streets of New Haven and the Yale campus, feeding on the souls of the living, terrifying the dead. Alex and her allies can hunt them, but it’s only a matter of time before the gates to the underworld open and they face a war they cannot win. To stop it, they’ll have to reach deep into the secrets of Yale and its societies, and discover the truth hidden in Alex’s own blood.

While she struggles to hold onto the dream of a future Yale once offered, Alex must contend with the machinations of a corrupt Lethe Board and a deadly vampire with his own connection to the societies. But for the first time in her life, she won’t have to face the fight alone. Dawes, Turner, Mercy, and even Tripp will have a role to play, none more so than Alex’s mentor Darlington, the golden boy who lived so long in her head, now back in the flesh and cursed with dangerous powers of his own. Hell itself is stalking the delegates of Lethe House, and they’re all about to learn that demons don’t play by human rules.

Genres: Fantasy, Dark Academia, Fiction, Horror, Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Audio CD

Expected publication September 29, 2026

About the author

Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology—and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University. For information on new releases and appearances, sign up for her newsletter.

She would be delighted if you visited her at LeighBardugo.com and fairly giddy if you liked her selfies on Instagram.

Reviews

[emma]

this is the book equivalent of when you think you've eaten the last cookie and you go to throw away the box and then you see, hiding in the corner, that there's actually been one more bonus magic cookie waiting for you all along.

[Megan ❀]

Actual footage of me camped out in hell while waiting however many years it's going to take for this book to come out:

[chai ♡]

I’m just going to go ahead and say what everyone else is thinking:

📢 ALEX AND DARLINGTON NEED TO BANG AND GET OVER IT 📢

[Bea]

*slides leigh bardugo 20$* let alex and darlington fuck

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ *]

why did she title this book after my dad smh

[levi (starboy) (s.ia)]

AYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAY ITS RELEASED MY COPY ARRIVES TOMORROW




At my wits fucking end I genuinely need this book right now

[Vanessa]

An on-page darlingstern sex scene isn't a want its a need

[Megan]

i need alex and darlington to have wild demon sex in this one thanks

[Vathna]

Please, not another 3+ years 😢

Edit: It did, in fact, take 3 years+

[Mirabel]

*chanting*
darling-ton-stern darling-ton-stern

[h i n d]

I have a strong feeling that by the time this book comes out I will have forgotten everything that happened in the previous 2 books

[✭ emilee ✭]

demon f*ckers unite!

[Ricarda]

"Dead Beat" as the title, weird owl cover, 2026 release date. Thrilled about everything so far.

[bushra]

the public needs them to use that goddamn glowing dick already

[veerali]

now that this trilogy is actually over, what the absolute fuck am i supposed to do with the remaining oxygen in my lungs? just walk around? pretend to be a functioning member of society?

i'll never mentally recover from this. leigh bardugo, you have blood on your hands.

[Ana (Hiatus)]

Alex and Darlington need to get together in this book. It's been way too long. Their tension is too much.

OMG IT'S REAL. WE HAVE A NAME NOW. SEPTEMBER CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH

[vaishnave]

please please please ms. bardugo please just give me alternating darlington/alex chapters like you did for ninth house and darlington/alex action scenes against demons and darlington/alex banter and darlington/alex sarcasm and darlington/alex romance and just anything darlington/alex PLEASE

[manas]

DARLINGTON ALEX ENDGAME!!!


I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS OUT OMGOOMGFOMOVMFOVMFOM

[daria ❀]

darlingstern you’re going in the hall of fame for fantasy ships

[aira]

lowkey I feel like I'm in the minority, but this trilogy was not it. I guess I couldn't connect to the writing and then the fact that I didn't remember much from the first two books. It's on me, so don't let this rating or review stop you because a lot people loved this because I know I'm one of few that feel the opposite.

---------

got the notification that this is now out...I need to find a way to get paws on it. low-key I don't even remember the plots from the first two which may be a small problem, but I just want to get it off my tbr so I don't feel guilty about not finishing this trilogy.

[Zoulfa Katouh]

baking sourdough/cooking lunch whilst doing the audiobook on a fall day was such a vibe i will say. pamela dawes would be proud. i’m going to miss this series. i love when a story has mini stories and factoids in it. idk how to explain it but it becomes like Story (bold). the raven scholar, for me, was similar in that. love when we don’t do the whole “if you kill the villain you’re just as bad they are!!!” like what? no. no????

this was indeed a galaxy of a series. get it?? also love when boyfriend enable girlfriend to do Mess and also Bad Things. and he support. yay!


pre-read thoughts:
anyone got a summary of the last two books? bc all i remember is darlington with his horns :D

[Tara]

so many things happened in this book that I had fantasised about for years but didn't think had a chance of ever happening. I felt like a kid raised by an almond mom finally let loose in a candy store for the first time. god bless you Leigh Bardugo, may you always have nice things, may your pillow always be cold, you knew exactly what we needed and you delivered.

cute darlingstern date ideas: hunting demons, fighting the devil, committing murder, beating up assholes, taking down symbols of the white supremacist patriarchy together <33 YOU WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY.

can't express in words how much this series means to me and I can't believe it's over now

[ingrid ₊]

BEFORE U CAME INTO MY LIFE I MISSED U SO BAD

[caleigh]

how am i supposed to be okay and move on 🥲

── .✦ pre read
i actually can’t believe this is in my hands rn how am i supposed to be normal about this

[Poppyflowerjj]

This is going to take three years isn't it!! ugh 😢

Dark Romance / Horror / Fantasy?!?!

I needs some damn DARLINGSTERN action damnit.

Let them become LOVERS.

[lisa ★]

one hell of a conclusion to an overall quite fantastic series. i am not sure what my exact feelings are about this particular book, but the lingering feeling is that, unfortunately, the saga failed to reach the potential it could have had in many ways - there are many things i wish had been done differently. however, i am quite certain that this universe and its marvels will stay with me for a long time, and there is nothing left for me to do after this except, maybe, enrolling in yale 🧐

[Rooney’s mom]

So what are we getting first, the last Stranger Things season or Book 3? Or maybe student loan debt relief? Start the timers.

[hali]

[HEAVY BREATHING] 👁️👄👁️

[❀ iro ❀]

THIS BETTER HAS DARLINGSTERN SMUT IN IT OR ELSE

[Morwen]

Reading 🎧
I've planned a weekend full of chores so I can listen to this until I'm too exhausted to continue 😂 I've never been happier to clean 😂 whoever talk shit about audiobooks have no idea how productive with chores or exercise they can make you! ✨

Pre-read
I can't believe this is finally out!!
I have to be a good girl and read one ARC before I completely lose my mind over this book for the forse able future! 🥹
Also, Audible is making my life very difficult, by preventing me to buy the audiobook cause a charge while I was abroad has messed my payment method up 😭 keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll manage to buy it tomorrow!! 🫢🤞🏻