Alchemy of Secrets

Published in 2025, Alchemy of Secrets is the adult debut from Stephanie Garber, the bestselling author known for her popular young adult fantasy series, Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart. An urban fantasy set in Los Angeles, the novel follows folklore graduate student Holland St. James, who is drawn into a hidden magical world after investigating an urban legend. When a mysterious prophetic figure called the Watch Man predicts she will die at midnight on Halloween unless she finds the ancient and powerful Alchemical Heart, Holland is forced to navigate a treacherous landscape of secrets and dangerous alliances to save her own life. The novel explores themes including The Treacherous Nature of Secrets and Lies, Storytelling as a Form of Magic and Manipulation, and Confronting the Ghosts of Family Legacy. Garber’s previous works have been translated into more than 30 languages, and Twentieth Century Fox has optioned the film rights for her first novel, Caraval.

This guide is based on the 2025 Flatiron Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, illness or death, sexual assault, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Holland St. James, a graduate student, feels compelled to enter a mysterious shop called Curios & Clockwork after a poster reminds her of a legend from her class, Folklore 517. She tells her date, Jake, about the Watch Man, a figure who can reveal the exact time of a person’s death. Inside, they leave their personal information with a girl who promises that the Watch Man will be in touch.

The next day, Holland meets Adam Bishop, who claims to be her new thesis advisor, replacing her mentor, the Professor. Adam dismisses Holland’s thesis, which argues that several Hollywood stars made deals with the devil, leading to their untimely deaths. He calls the Professor a fraud.

Later, a man named Manuel Vargas visits Holland’s home, informing her that her father left a safety deposit box at the First Bank of Centennial City 15 years earlier, just before his death. Its contents will be destroyed in 24 hours if left unclaimed. Though skeptical, Holland makes an appointment at the bank for the following morning, Halloween.

That evening, Holland meets her folklore classmates, Cat and Eileen, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The friends meet there once a month, hoping to encounter the devil. The Professor has implied that the hotel is a favorite haunt of the devil, and that anyone who buys the devil a Sidecar cocktail can make a deal with him. Holland hopes to prove that the devil is responsible for the deaths of her parents. When her eyes are drawn to a man on the mezzanine who looks like a darker version of Adam, she experiences a nosebleed. Jake calls in a panic, revealing that the Watch Man told him he would die at 6:47 pm that evening.

Holland goes to Jake’s apartment, where he confesses that he was hired to get close to her and investigate her family. Furthermore, the Watch Man has told him that the only way to extend his life is to kill Holland. As Holland flees, Jake chases her. Outside, Holland is disoriented and finds Jake stabbed to death on a walkway. Returning to Jake’s apartment, she finds a folder that details his assignment. The folder’s black-and-gold Art Deco edging matches the images the Professor has shown her class of the devil’s business card. The Watch Man calls Holland, telling her that she will die at 11:59 pm on Halloween unless she finds an object called the Alchemical Heart.

As police sirens approach, a man named Gabe Cabral abducts Holland. Gabe has the magical “ability” to control electronic devices with his mind. He claims that Holland’s twin sister, January, sent him to protect her; he shows his antiquity eye tattoo, which is identical to the one January has. Gabe explains that January disappeared after falling for a mysterious man; January also left a note asking for his help. He also tells Holland that the Alchemical Heart is a powerful magical object sought by many.

Holland and Gabe go to the Professor’s house and find it ransacked. Adam Bishop appears, also claiming that January sent him. A confrontation between Adam and Gabe ends in a shootout where both men are wounded. Gabe helps Holland escape, but Adam’s injury appears fatal.

Holland takes Gabe to her house to treat his wound. She opens a package containing the Professor’s journal and a list of historical dates corresponding to the Alchemical Heart’s reappearance. Searching through her twin sister’s belongings in the guest room, Holland discovers letters from the First Bank of Centennial City that January has hidden from her. Gabe warns that the Bank is an “evil” organization capable of powerful magic. Holland reveals her true identity to Gabe: She is Holland Tierney, daughter of the famous director Benjamin Tierney and actress Isla Saint. She wants to prove that Isla did not kill Benjamin and take her own life. Holland suspects that her father was in possession of the Alchemical Heart and hid it in his safety deposit box.

At her bank appointment, Holland discovers that the Professor is the Bank’s Manager. The Professor offers Holland a job and an ability in exchange for the deposit box’s contents, and she also alleges that Gabe murdered his wife in order to steal her magical powers. Holland suddenly doubts Gabe and tells the Professor he is waiting outside.

Holland opens the deposit box and finds pages from her father’s missing screenplay, Alchemy of Secrets; they contain clues for a treasure hunt. Her friend Eileen, who works for the Bank, helps her escape to the magical Regal Hotel, where one hour equates to one minute in the real world.

Inside the Regal, Holland encounters Adam, now miraculously healed. He invites her to stay in his room to avoid being expelled by hotel security. Adam confesses that he and his brother, Mason, are responsible for the urban myth that Hollywood stars have gained their fame through deals with the devil. He admits to gaining power and influence by cultivating the rumor that he and Mason were both devils. However, Mason committed terrible crimes, including murdering their father. The only way that Adam could curb his brother’s behavior was to trap him as a powerless ghost at the Hollywood Roosevelt. Adam reveals that he can manipulate and erase others’ memories.

Following clues in the screenplay, Holland and Adam go to JME studios. In her father’s old bungalow, now occupied by director Vic VanVleet, they find another clue that leads them to the props department. An employee tells them that Ben Tierney placed chains on an old book, which is now on the set of the show Knife and Cross. Gabe appears and beats them to the chained book, only to discover that it is a decoy containing a pencil. However, the pencil is a clue that leads Holland and Adam to another set, where they dig under a tree and find a jar containing the final screenplay page. Gabe confronts them and steals the entire screenplay. During the confrontation, Holland has a vision of Gabe turning into Adam, and she feels blood pouring from her eyes before she blacks out. She realizes that the final clue points to the bowling alley at the Hollywood Roosevelt.

At the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Halloween party, Holland sees an old friend, the former child actor Chance Garcia. Chance shows Holland old photos of an ageless Adam with numerous celebrities who died mysteriously, including her parents. In the gaming parlor, Holland is confronted by Mason Bishop. He confirms that he is a ghost and reveals that they are all trapped in a time loop. Mason explains that Holland’s visions are memories from previous loops; at the end of each loop, Adam kills her, causing time to reset. Following this revelation, Holland discovers January’s necklace, which, when combined with her own, forms a choker bearing the symbol of the Alchemical Heart.

With minutes left until midnight, Adam finds Holland and uses his memory-altering ability on her. Now believing that he is her protector, she allows him to get close. He stabs her in the back and steals the necklace, believing it to be the Alchemical Heart. As Holland is dying, she realizes that the Professor’s journal is the true Alchemical Heart, so she uses it to heal herself. With Mason’s guidance, she uses the Heart’s power to turn Adam into a ghost trapped in the hotel. She also restores Mason to life. The Alchemical Heart reveals its sentient nature to Holland by transforming into Manuel Vargas. Although she is tempted to bring her parents back from the dead, Holland decides to activate her own latent ability. When she sends the Heart into the future for someone else to find, the time loop is broken.

Outside the Roosevelt, the Professor renews her job offer at the Bank. Holland neither accepts nor declines, keeping her options open. The next morning, Mason finds Holland on the beach. As a thank-you, he gives her a black business card with a gold Art Deco border. The story concludes as Holland receives a long-awaited call from her sister, January.