Jill has just made the big move to life as a suburban mom in New Jersey. A horror author by trade, she’s accidentally conned into joining the PTA in her new town. She’s mostly worried about keeping her love of horror and off-kilter interests from making everyone think she’s weird, until a plastic face-masked serial killer starts to take out moms. While the police do very little, the moms panic. Jill’s final girl survival techniques kick in just in time as she starts to follow the path of a serial killer.
Lindy Ryan’s Dollface combines the fear of not fitting with the fear of true crime violence. The premise is unique: PTA moms being picked off one by one, while a horror author tries to keep herself and her family alive. There’s a lot this book does right. Jill doesn’t have a philandering husband with a dark secret. Her character truly has a lot of horror movie references that give her a sense of authenticity. However, I struggled with Dollface. Jill has serious “not like other girl” vibes that make her not the most fun character to follow. The book has been advertised as Barbie meets Scream, but I don’t think I can get behind this comparison.
Dollface is available from Minotaur Press February 24, 2026.
