The B-Side

A song is a small thing. The smallest thing. Until it becomes the smallest door you'll ever walk through-and you realize something is waiting on the other side.

In RyeHill, Oregon, sixteen-year-old Jacob Robinson expects nothing more from October than cold wind and thrift store hunts. But for twenty-five cents at Second Chances, he finds a blank 45 record etched with a single, cryptic warning: play it loud. Intrigued by the anonymous vinyl, Jacob drops the needle. The melody is smooth, haunting, and immediately unforgettable-crawling deep inside his head and refusing to leave.

The countdown begins. It always takes seven days.

As the music grows deafeningly loud behind his ribs, Jacob and his tight-knit circle of friends-Luna, Steve, and Aimie-uncover a century-old pattern of bizarre, gruesome "accidents" tearing through their small town. Tracing the static back through history, they unlock the dark legacy of Ezekiel Pratt, an 1860s itinerant preacher who struck a desperate bargain in a fever dream, unleashing a parasitic auditory entity known as the Hollow Man. The song doesn't care what format it rides-wax, vinyl, or shellac-it only requires a door, and human ears are always left unlocked.

With the supernatural clock ticking down to Jacob's own fatal deadline, the four teenagers must track down a lead-lined iron chest and an ancient manuscript hidden by a deceased collector to stage a desperate ritual. But the entity has learned patience, and it will violently dismantle anyone who tries to turn the volume down.

Perfect for fans of Stephen King and technological dread and the atmospheric cosmic horror, THE B-SIDE is a claustrophobic, cross-era nightmare that will change the way you listen to your favorite playlist forever. Once the needle drops, you can never unhear it.