The Key Series - Book 1
The Key to Fear
“Immersive, chilling, and yet deliciously sweet, The Key to Fear is a compelling story of forbidden love and dangerous secrets that explores a terrifying future with an important message for our own world.”
Emily Suvada, award-winning author of This Mortal Coil
A Publishers Weekly Pick of 2020 Pandemic Novels for Young Readers
A Gizmodo Pick of New SFF & Horror Books
Finalist for the 2020 Voice Arts Award
A Tor.com Pick of the Month
What do you do when the brutal system that once kept you safe hunts you down?
No touching today for a healthy tomorrow.
For fifty years, the Key Corporation has defended humanity against a deadly virus that spreads through touch. Lovers don’t kiss, or even hold hands. Personal boundaries are valued above all. Break the laws, and you’ll face execution.
Elodie, a talented young nurse, believes in the mission of the Key and has never questioned the laws that control her life. But Elodie is forced to break the rules when she sets out in search of a terminal patient who goes missing while under her care.
From the outside, it seems like Aiden was given everything he could want from the Key—a purpose, an education, and a future. But Aiden knows more than he’s letting on, and the dark secrets he’s keeping could tear the Key’s strict society apart.
When Elodie and Aiden’s lives collide, the fallout will be devastating. What do you do when the brutal system that once kept you safe hunts you down?
Run.
“Immersive, chilling, and yet deliciously sweet, The Key to Fear is a compelling story of forbidden love and dangerous secrets that explores a terrifying future with an important message for our own world.”
Emily Suvada, award-winning author of This Mortal Coil
“Although her characters are forbidden to touch, Cast proves once again that she is an expert at making her readers feel. The Key to Fear consumed me with its intricate world-building and richly layered characters, sending me hurtling to the end with twist after unexpected twist. Look no further for your key to entertainment!”
Pintip Dunn, New York Times bestselling author
“With intricate world-building and expert plot twists, Kristin Cast delivers a timely story about authoritarianism and resistance that will leave you breathless.”
Caleb Roehrig, author of White Rabbit and Last Seen Leaving
“Timely, disturbing, and an ending designed to make the reader demand, ‘What happens next?’”
Joelle Charbonneau, New York Times bestselling author of the Testing trilogy and Verify
“In this propulsive series starter, Cast imagines a corporation-controlled post-pandemic world in which human touch is highly regulated…Cast aptly portrays a sense of unease among people living heavily governed lives.”
Publishers Weekly
“With high energy, expertly crafted prose, and dialogue bringing a bleak reality to life, Cast has shaped an unforgettable dystopia worthy of Orwell or Huxley, with eerie relevance to contemporary society, as ‘The Key’ maintains control over every facet of residents’ lives. This thrilling and dangerous dystopic journey reminds readers that the corpses were—and remain—humans, that love is integral to our fabric as sentient beings, and that there is a promise of hope out there. And, of course, the Key’s haunting mantra, ‘No touching today for a healthy tomorrow,’ has never been more relevant.”
Booklist (starred review)
“For me it is key to support other women in the arts and for women to unite and support each other. When I was asked to narrate this project for Kristin Cast, I was more than excited to portray her vision and story through my tone and delivery. I am a big fan of her personal story and hustle.”
Dascha Polanco, actress and audiobook narrator
Dascha Polanco, born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn, is best known for her SAG Award–winning performance as Dayanara Diaz in the Netflix hit show Orange Is the New Black. Recently, Dascha can be seen in Ava DuVernay’s Emmy Award–winning Netflix series When They See Us and Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
Dascha has a big slate of upcoming work, including Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Feature Film Project In the Heights, scheduled to be released in June 2021. Currently, she is filming along side Sylvester Stallone as the female lead of his next action thriller, Samaritan. Dascha also will star as a series regular in FOX’s upcoming pilot Blood Relative.
Dascha’s achievements have been recognized by numerous awards, including the ALMA Awards, HOLA Awards, and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (Lupe Award). Huffington Post recognized her as one of the Latinas to be “Breaking the Mold,” and the Hollywood Reporter named her one of the 40 Young Latino Powerhouses in Hollywood.