'The Sopranos' Meets Wes Anderson in This Twisted Dark Academia Book

Published Jul 23, 2026, 11:03 PM EDT Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel. A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated. Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point. We live in particularly exciting times, where Internet trends can become so expansive that they eventually breed entire literary genres. Surfacing on the social media site Tumblr somewhere around the mid-2010s, the dark academia aesthetic blew up in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to teenage bookworms stuck at home yearning for academic escapism. Inspired by elements of Gothic art, classic literature, and social culture at Oxbridge and Ivy League schools, dark academia has evolved from a simple aesthetic into a proper genre with tropes, conventions, and iconography all of its own. Later this month, anyone intrigued by dark academia will be treated to a deliciously twisted new entry into the genre. The Mortons is not only the first adult novel by My Sister Rosa author Justine Larbalestier, but also her first time co-writing a book with her husband, Scott Westerfeld, of Uglies series and Leviathan trilogy fame. Together, they've crafted a morally ambiguous and wickedly dark mystery thriller with all the elements anyone could possibly want to see in a dark academia novel, and then some. It's the sort of novel that would make for an amazing movie one day. But far from being all aesthetic, no substance, this delectably original and fast-paced story packs more than enough narrative meat on its bones. Twists, surprises, and moments of purely diabolical entertainment make this the sort of book that begs to be read with a bold, sophisticated cocktail at hand. What Is 'The Mortons' About? Image via Viking The Mortons centers on the eponymous family, an old-money dynasty that raises all of their children to be ruthless killers. "Homicide is heritage," reads the book's chilling tagline, and very early on, one realizes that there's no better encapsulation of the family's history than that. The most important foundation of any dark academia novel worth its salt is the actual academic setting of its narrative, and The Mortons' is as instantly absorbing as they get. At Helshire College, "legacy" students from historied crime dynasties like the Mortons take off-the-catalog classes where they learn skills essential to their dark practices. A student at Helshire is Jessica Morton, through whose perspective we discover that the family holds secrets even bleaker than their murderous, manipulative façade suggests. Like the best Mortons, she lacks any semblance of empathy in her heart. At age seven, she completed her mors curae, a Morton tradition where the family's kids have to raise and protect a rabbit for a whole year and then slaughter it themselves. Whereas many kids give their rabbits silly names, like Mister Fluffernutter, Jessica named hers Rabbit. She has no need for creativity, warmth, or love in her life. Her journey of discovery (both of her family's secrets and of her own self-identity) then becomes a question of whether someone who has been nurtured into cruelty can find compassion and redemption, or whether some brainwashings are effectively permanent. 'The Mortons' Wears Its Influences On Its Sleeve The Mortons is exquisitely original and deliciously unique in how it depicts violence and cruelty with a razor-sharp sense of humor, but it's also quite transparent about the giants on whose shoulders it stands. Influences from Donna Tartt's The Secret History, one of the best books of the '90s and the biggest precursor of the dark academia literary genre, are abundantly evident. You also get plenty of the eccentric, deadpan humor that makes Wes Anderson special; the charmingly dark tone of The Addams Family and Wednesday; and the cutthroat, power-hungry family dynamics of The Sopranos. There are also plenty of elements here that leave no room for doubt that Larbalestier and Westerfeld are veterans of the YA genre, from the story's lightning-fast pacing to Jessica's coming-of-age story. But though you can tell The Mortons was penned by two YA masters, it also demonstrates that they were more than ready to make their big splash in the adult novel space. The Mortons' Gothic tone and ice-cold depictions of violence aren't just quirky gimmicks, but the very skeleton of a story that explores genuinely mature themes with a level of depth, grit, and even sexiness not often found in YA dark academia. Its protagonist may be young, but this novel earns its "adult" label through and through. At no point do Larbalestier and Westerfeld force any interpretation of Jessica's arc or posit any judgment on whether she deserves to be redeemed or not. The charm of The Mortons lies not only in the constant shock of the many deadly, bloody twists thrown our protagonist's way, but also in wondering just as much as she does if the things she's done are too much to forgive. In any other book, the answer would be an immediate yes. After all, the Mortons—Jessica most definitely included—are all cold-blooded killers whose currency is death, betrayal, money, and power for power's sake. But Larbalestier and Westerfeld wear their influences on their sleeves with such effortless confidence that, from the very first chapter, where Jessica commits an act of murder that would make her instantly detestable in any other kind of story, it's surprisingly easy to immerse oneself so deeply in her world that such a crime (though shocking) isn't off-putting. There have been many great thriller books throughout the last 10 years, and The Mortons is one of the boldest in its worldbuilding. There May Be Mortons for Days Image via Viking The Mortons is a real page-turner, blending the breakneck pacing of its authors' YA instincts with a mystery thriller narrative as twisty as a rabbit's innards. That makes it all the more delightful that the Mortons world may greatly expand in the future. Larbalestier and Westerfeld are reportedly already working on a companion novel set in the same engrossing world, and they even promise to write nothing but Mortons books for the rest of their careers if possible. The book certainly does end on a note that makes a sequel not only perfectly plausible, but also irresistibly tempting. In these dark days when empathy is in such short supply, and loyalty is weaponized in favor of power and money, The Mortons feels like a far timelier novel than its wild premise may make it seem at first glance. It strikes the perfect balance between providing enough entertaining escapism to make it a worthy before-bedtime read, and a potent enough reflection of the real world to make its messaging hit even closer to home. It's elegant, funny, sophisticated, and always goes in a darker direction whenever you think it's gone as far as it could. As far as crime family sagas and dark academia stories go, it doesn't get much more worthwhile than The Mortons.