Celestial | Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives

Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives

Stephen Graham Jones

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A must-have collector’s item for horror fans, comprised of two novels, The Babysitter Lives and The Killer on the Road, from the new master of horror Stephen Graham Jones.

The Babysitter Lives

When high school senior Charlotte agrees to babysit the Wilbanks twins, she plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night studying: the SATs are tomorrow, and checking the Native American/Alaskan Native box on all the forms won’t help if she chokes on test day. But tomorrow is also Halloween, and the twins are eager to show off their costumes. Charlotte’s last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy when her young charge sleepwalked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte’s mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time.

But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. Soon Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter’s worse nightmare has come true: they’re not alone in the house.

The Killer on the Road

Sixteen-year-old Harper has decided to run away from home after she has another blow-out argument with her mother. However, her two best friends, little sister, and ex-boyfriend all stop her from hitchhiking her way up Route 80 in Wyoming by joining her on an intervention disguised as a road trip.

What they don’t realize is that Harper has been marked by a very unique serial killer who’s been trolling the highway for the past three years, and now the killer is after all of them in this fast-paced and deadly chase novel that will have your heart racing well above the speed limit as the interstate becomes a graveyard.

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Posts about this title from Celestial

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Oct 15 2025

fall mood book recs

whatever your fall mood may be … i’ve got you covered with a book rec!

📚 books mentioned: - Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife by Deston J. Munden - Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones - The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi - A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury

👗💄: - sweater & headband are from Walmart - eyeshadow is two Sparklestiks from @halfmagicbeauty - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thank you Bindery Books, Saga Press, William Morrow, and Simon Teen for the gifted copies! #fallbooks #fallbookrecs #fantasybooks #fantasybookrecs #cozyfantasy #horrorbooks #horrorbookrecs #gothicbooks #gothicbookrecs #darkacademia #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #SimonTeenInfluencer #binderybooks #celestial #WilliamMorrowpartner #HarperCollinsPartner #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram @bindery_books @sagapressbooks @williammorrowbooks @simonteen

4 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 16 2025

i would, unfortunately, gruesomely perish in these worlds. but i would have fun first (sometimes).

📚 books mentioned: - Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase - These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa - Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones - Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier - I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

thank you to Get Underlined and Saga Press for the gifted copies!

#fantasybooks #fantasybookrecs #horrorbooks #horrorbookrecs #bookishopinions #GetUnderlinedPartner #SagaSays #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram #nycbookstagram @erewhonbooks @getunderlined @sagapressbooks @clarionbooks @fiercereads @harpercollins

4 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 9 2025

what did you read this week? here’s my speedy reading update!

📚 books mentioned: - A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant - Killer on the Road/The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones

thank you to Simon Teen and Saga Press for the gifted copies!

#readingupdate #readingcheckin #weeklyreading #fantasybooks #horrorbooks #darkacademia #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #SagaSaysCrew #SimonTeenInfluencer #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #bookstagram #nycbookstagram @simonteen @orbitbooks_us @sagapressbooks

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 2 2025

choose your (book) crisis!!

because a character never seems to have an easy, happy time in a book that i pick up.

📚 books mentioned: - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant - The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim - Killer on the Road/The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones - The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei - Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase - I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea - A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan - Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Thank you to Simon Teen, Saga Press, and William Morrow for the gifted copies!

#chooseyourcrisis #chooseyourbookcrisis #chooseyourcharacter #fantasybooks #horrorbooks #scifibooks #bookrecs #bookrecommendations #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #SimonTeenInfluencer #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram #nycbookstagram @simonteen @erewhonbooks @sagapressbooks @flatiron_books @delreybooks @kensingtonbooks @fiercereads @henryholtbooks @williammorrowbooks

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • May 17 2025

ENGAGEMENT BOOK HAUL!!

ENGAGEMENT BOOK HAUL!! i will probably be bragging about this for the rest of my life. 🥰📚💍

THANK YOU to Savannah and Saga Press for this unreal stack!

📚 books mentioned: - You Weren’t Mean to be Human by Andrew Joseph White - Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones - Herculine by Grace Byron - Night & Day edited by Ellen Datlow - How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe - A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper - The Lost Reliquary by Lyndsay Ely - The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss - Why I Love Horror edited by Becky Siegel Spratford - The Secret Market of the Dead by Giovanni De Feo

#horrorbooks #fantasybooks #scifibooks #stephengrahamjones #andrewjosephwhite #readingroadtorings #bookproposal #bookengagement #nycinfluencer #engagement #sagapressbooks #SagaSaysCrew #sagasays #starrysteph #bookstagram

Posts about this book from across Bindery

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • May 24

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\ \ I've been diving deep into some urban legends for research on something special. Most times, urban legends start from a truth before embellishment and fabrication make the tale more sinister than it originated. But let's be real, as horror fans, we live for the scary details that are added in. We chase that thrill of possibly summoning Bloody Mary in front of a mirror, or exploring a supposedly haunted house.\ \ Below, you can find some urban legend horror books that will hopefully scratch that urban legend itch you have. Next week I will feature some Cryptic/Creature Feature Urban Legends :D\ \ \ \ The graphic novels Bad Dreams In The Night and Let Me In Your Window by Adam Ellis both feature beautiful artwork with amazing, scary stories. Many of these stories feature urban legends and tales of folklore.\ \ \ \ Jack O' Dander by Priya Sharma\ \ This short story follows a family are not only impacted by their choices, but also by a mysterious urban legend. \ \ \ \ Killer on The Road/The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones\ \ Both of these novels play on common urban legends. Killer on The Road deals with the legend of a serial killer on the road picking up hitchhikers. The Babysitter Lives centers around the babysitter receives a call/knock on the door urban legend. Both are great books and I love that they are featured together. \ \ \ \ Daphne by Josh Malerman\ \ Did you ever play "The Game" back in school. Oops... sorry just made you lose it. This book is very similar to The Game. The urban legend named Daphne comes to life when you think of her. The more you think of her, the higher chance she will come and kill you...better stop thinking of her or else...you may be next.\ \ \ \ Schrader's Chord by Scott Leeds\ \ Ahh the good ole cursed object. Schrader's Chord follows a man who inherits a supposed cursed record from his recently deceased father. Legend has it that all four records are played at the same time, the listener will open a gate to the land of the dead...\ \ \ \ Narcissus by Adam Godfrey\ \ After hearing about a subterranean pool that's rumored to be the one by which Narcissus once wasted away by, a group of college kids learn the hard way that legends can be true.\ \ A few on my tbr\ \ Books Of Blood by Clive Barker\ \ Scanlines by Todd Keisling\ \ Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren\ \ The House On Abigail Lane by Kealan Patrick Burke\ \ What are some of your favorite Urban Legends?\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/uLibDGZGpxVQ4hhPNGUy/)

Urban Legend Horror

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Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Nov 1 2025

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The Moody Edit\ \ Jenn\ \ • Oct 30 2025

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[My Libby queue this week feels like a carefully balanced storm - eight books, eight moods, all orbiting different corners of curiosity, dread, and delight.\ \ Crime & Suspense\ \

The Lincoln Lawyer - legal intrigue and moral ambiguity; the tension of justice that doesn't always feel just. \ \
Killer on the Road - a psychological descent told from the mind of a killer - relentless, haunting, and disturbingly human.\ \ \ Horror & Speculative\ \
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The Bewitching - witchcraft, power, and superstition woven through gothic atmosphere; history's hauntings in the hands of women who won't stay silent. \ \ \ Nonfiction & Thought-Provoking\ \
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Automatic Noodle - absurdist and sharp-edged; humor that slips into something uncanny and oddly true. \ \
A Pirate's Life for Tea - cozy escapism with a wink; mischief, magic, and maritime tea parties for when you want your chaos charming. \ \ \ I've dipped into a few already, and each on carries its own current - some dark and unsettling, some sharp and clever, some quietly strange. The rest are waiting, humming at the edges of my week, promising new moods when I'm ready to sink in. \ \ Mood reading isn't about discipline or genre loyalty. It's about surrender. About knowing when you need courtroom tension over gothic curses, or when absurdism will soothe you better than a love story ever could. It's about giving your reading life permission to be a reflection of your inner weather. \ \ This is mood reading: trusting instinct, following curiosity, and letting your unread shelf become its own aesthetic. \ \ Curated chaos for the discerning reader.\ \ Curated chaos for the discerning reader.\ \ Join for free or login](https://the-moody-edit.binderybooks.com/item/h2LPXa0H5FGwzphUPlxf/)

Mood: Chaos Curated, One Loan at a Time. Eight moods, one week, and a library card with commitment issues.

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Oct 15 2025

fall mood book recs

whatever your fall mood may be … i’ve got you covered with a book rec!

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Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Oct 5 2025

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 16 2025

i would, unfortunately, gruesomely perish in these worlds. but i would have fun first (sometimes).

thank you to Get Underlined and Saga Press for the gifted copies!

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 9 2025

what did you read this week? here’s my speedy reading update!

thank you to Simon Teen and Saga Press for the gifted copies!

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 2 2025

choose your (book) crisis!!

because a character never seems to have an easy, happy time in a book that i pick up.

Thank you to Simon Teen, Saga Press, and William Morrow for the gifted copies!

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Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Jul 1 2025

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Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Jun 26 2025

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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Jun 23 2025

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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • May 25 2025

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Stephen Graham Jones Joins Boozhoo Books Booklcub- The Upload

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