Havoc

Tragedy and comedy fuse together perfectly in a labyrinthine mystery of emotional and psychological complexity. – Jo BrandHavoc is a rich, wry delight of a read - as funny as it is thought-provoking, as evocative as it is page-turning. Rebecca Wait is a phenomenal storyteller. I can’t wait to see what she writes next * Abbie Greaves, author of The Silent Treatment *SCREAMING, CRYING, THROWING UP! Havoc is a fever worth catching, a gloomy and gorgeous pleasure * Maggie Thrash, author of Rainbow Black *Eerie and utterly absorbing … [Havoc] is a tragicomic triumph about adolescence, identity and how quickly order can unravel * IMAGE Magazine *A delight to return to [Rebecca’s] witty, emotional, insightful writing * Hannah Beckerman *One of my favourite reads of the year! * Charlotte Heathcote *Funny * Good Housekeeping (20 Hottest Books of Summer) *Rebecca Wait has a glorious turn of phrase and a dazzling ability to go on peculiar tangents that never detract, but only ever add to a character’s experience … Wait’s writing is dry and droll, her characters twisty, thoughtful and highly specific, and Havoc is a total blast of a read, perfectly pinpointing where tragedy and wryness meet * Irish News *A biting and savagely funny novel … Think dark academia meets The League of Gentlemen * Red Magazine *Its boarding-school setting may well be decrepit, but the writing in Havoc is anything but. Sharp and compelling, Wait has - once again - created the most curious of characters, who made me both laugh and gasp aloud. In many ways extraordinary, I loved it * Amy Beashel *A master of zippy one-liners * Sunday Times *A wonderfully droll English tragicomedy, with darkness and bite * Natasha Poliszczuk (Summer Reading List 2025) *Rebecca Wait has a glorious turn of phrase and a dazzling ability to go on peculiar tangents that never detract, but only ever add to a character’s experience. * Herald *Gleefully macabre … Wait mines the rich seam of girls’ school fiction to delirious and rewarding effect. There are welcome echoes of St Trinian’s [and] abundant Ealing comedy in the madcap chases through school corridors and machinations in the lighting gallery during the school play. Yet beneath the comedy lies a distinctly unsettling undertone: the girls experience a convincingly visceral terror that edges towards Shirley Jackson territory and gives their hysteria an extra dimension. This, along with a genuine unexpectedness in the characterisation and a lot of very funny dialogue, loosens things up and brings real originality to the game. Combined with excellent pacing, a plot so deliciously thick you could stand a spoon up in it, and the boldness required to splice a darker thread into the narrative, it all adds up to a thoroughly satisfying contribution to a happily capacious genre. * Guardian (Book of the Day) *[Rebecca Wait] perfectly balances dark humour with a sense of encroaching threat. Her keen ear for dialogue and astute social observations make for a highly enjoyable and multi-layered novel * Observer *Unmissable … [Wait] combines a propulsive plot with unforgettable characters and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue * Women’s Weekly *Wry, compelling, and far funnier than a book about a mysterious contagion has any right to be, Havoc is an ode to the beautiful and complicated shambles of girlhood and the tender uncertainty of adulthood. With clear-eyed control and a keen wit, Rebecca Wait has created an unforgettable cast of characters so richly drawn you’d swear you went to school with them yourself. At once a mystery, a comedy, and a coming-of-age tale, Havoc defies easy categorisation beyond what it is at its heart: a deft and thoughtful page-turner that will satisfy anyone who appreciates a good story. – Alison Wisdom, author of WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES and THE BURNING SEASONRebecca Wait excels at tragicomedy … [Havoc] is St Trinian’s on steroids. * Guardian (Best Fiction of 2025) *

REBECCA WAIT has written for the New Statesman, Independent and Pool on subjects as diverse as suicide, cults and autism and appeared on Woman’s Hour. Her third novel, Our Fathers published by riverrun in 2019, received widespread acclaim and was a Guardian book of the year and a thriller of the month for Waterstones. She lives in south London.

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