Dear Reader

Tate James’s 2025 novel, Dear Reader, is the first installment in the Devil’s Backbone series. Tate James is a USA Today and international bestselling author from New Zealand, known for writing dark romance and romantic suspense series. Blending elements of dark academia and romantic suspense, Dear Reader follows Ashley Layne, a scholarship student who becomes entangled with a dangerous secret society known as the Devil’s Backbone. After arriving on campus, Ashley discovers a diary and must determine whom she can trust while uncovering what the diary reveals about the society’s past. The novel explores themes including Navigating a World of Secrets and Lies, The Corrupting Influence of Power and Privilege, and The Fragility of Trust in a World of Betrayal.

This guide is based on the 2025 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of cursing, graphic violence, death, mental illness, death by suicide, sexual content, sexual harassment, sexual violence, substance use, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and bullying. 

Language Note: The source text uses misogynistic slurs, which are replicated in this guide only in direct quotes.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with a diary entry from an unnamed student at Nevaeh University. She warns the reader that if the diary is found, it means that she is dead, and the Devil’s Backbone Society (DBS) is responsible. She recounts her terrifying initiation into the secret society and states her belief that another student, Sarah Black, did not die by suicide by jumping from Cat’s Peak but was murdered by the DBS. Fearing for her life, the narrator began documenting the society’s activities.

The story then shifts to Ashley Layne, a 21-year-old community college student who discovers that her prized 1973 Pontiac Firebird has been severely keyed. The repair cost is $5,800, an amount she cannot afford. To earn the money, she takes an extra shift at her job as a masseuse at the Serenity day spa. She lies to her mother, Carina, about the car to avoid accepting financial help from Carina and her wealthy fiancé, Max Essex. Ashley has yet to meet Max’s son and her future stepbrother, Nate.

At work, Ashley is assigned a handsome and charming client named “Heath Jones.” After the massage, Heath makes an inappropriate sexual advance toward Ashley. When she refuses, he offers her a check for $6,000. Ashley firmly declines but is flustered by their intense chemistry and initiates a passionate kiss before leaving the room. Heath gives her the check anyway, calling it a tip.

Ashley cashes the check and pays for her car repairs. A month later, on the weekend of her mom’s wedding to Max, Ashley’s father cancels his planned visit. Max and Carina reveal a surprise wedding present for Ashley: They applied on her behalf for the prestigious Mariah Greenberg Scholarship at Nevaeh University for a master’s degree, and she was accepted, with all expenses covered. Overjoyed, Ashley accepts the scholarship.

At the rehearsal dinner, Ashley meets her hostile future stepbrother, Nate Essex, who immediately shows his disdain for her. Nate’s friends are introduced: the charismatic Carter Bassington Jr., the amused Royce D’Arenberg, and Heathcliff Briggs. Ashley is shocked to discover that “Heath Jones” is Heathcliff Briggs, and his friends reveal that the massage appointment was a setup. Nate insults Ashley by repeating derogatory rumors about her and her mother. He then reveals that he was responsible for keying her car, pointing out that the check was just enough to cover the damage he caused. 

Ashley moves into her dorm at Nevaeh University and befriends her neighbor, Carly. Carly confesses that she previously dated Nate, who cheated on his girlfriend Paige with her, leaving Carly socially isolated and unfairly blamed for the situation by his friends and classmates. Ashley, disgusted by Nate’s behavior, solidifies her friendship with Carly. 

Ashley gets into a physical confrontation with Jade, Paige’s best friend, after Jade bullies Carly. Carter intervenes, warning Ashley not to fight in public. In retaliation, Jade leaves a dog, feces, and the word “Bitch” scrawled in lipstick in Ashley’s room. Ashley and Carly send the dog to live in Nate and Carter’s off-campus apartment.

While cleaning her room, Ashley discovers a hidden compartment containing a handwritten diary. The diary belongs to Abigail Monstera, a previous Mariah Greenberg scholarship recipient. It details Abigail’s terrifying experiences with the Devil’s Backbone Society, including the initiation at Cat’s Peak, where Sarah Black died. Abigail’s diary states her belief that the group is responsible for multiple student deaths and a chapel fire, though its cause is never confirmed. She also expresses regret for confiding in a DBS member with dark blue eyes, implying that it is Carter.

Heath convinces Ashley to attend a party at Lake Prosper, where she overhears Nate and his friends discussing DBS business, including their plan for this year’s initiation at Cat’s Peak. Nate refuses to allow Ashley to be inducted. Royce discovers Ashley eavesdropping but covers for her. 

The next morning, Nate breaks into Ashley’s room to intimidate her. After he leaves, she discovers that Abigail’s diary has been stolen. Panicked, Ashley researches Abigail Monstera and finds her obituary; her death two years prior, a drowning, was ruled a suicide. Later, Ashley impulsively suggests to Heath that they “fake date” to quell the gossip around her and annoy Nate, and Heath agrees. 

That night, Ashley is abducted from her dorm by robed and masked figures. She is taken to a ledge with other initiates, where Nate announces that they must jump to join the DBS. An unseen figure pushes Ashley off the ledge, which is revealed to be a small, harmless drop, a psychological test. A video later proves Nate did not push her, but another robed figure did.

Lines continue to blur as Heath plays the devoted boyfriend. Carter forces Ashley to be his date to the DBS Founders’ Gala for a “Society Challenge.” Heath, wanting to win, takes the devious Jade as his date. At the gala, Carter reveals the challenge: Teams of two must place rubber ducks in high-risk, creative locations around the host’s mansion. 

Carter and Ashley’s placements include the inside of a safe, on the buttock of a sleeping man, in Paige’s discarded bra (revealing her affair with Royce to Ashley), and inside the grand ballroom’s chandelier. While hiding, Ashley sees three mysterious robed and masked DBs. To escape, she jumps from the chandelier, and Carter catches her.

Carter and Ashley win the challenge, and the prize is a weekend trip to Paris. Upon landing in Paris, Carter becomes cold and distant. At dinner, he insults her cruelly. Ashley leaves the hotel upset and is attacked by a man in the street. Carter saves her, beating the attacker unconscious, possibly to death. 

The adrenaline and intense emotion lead them to have passionate sex in the alley. They spend the rest of the trip having sex. Carter later tells Ashley he called a fixer to make the body disappear. Upon returning to campus, Carter maintains his outwardly cold demeanor, publicly insulting Ashley and breaking her heart.

At a subsequent DBS retreat, the decapitated body of a student named Bart is found in Ashley’s bed. She then receives anonymous text messages signed “AM,” warning her that the Paris incident may not have been accidental, and she was the intended target of a murder, not Bart. Nate helps Ashley trace the number and discovers it belongs to the deceased Abigail Monstera. Shortly after, Ashley is abducted in broad daylight by two masked figures, drugged, stripped to her underwear, and abandoned in a forest with the word “WHORE” nailed to a tree.

Recognizing the scenario from Abigail’s diary, Ashley uses her memory of the entries as a map and survives. She is found by a professor and taken to the hospital. 

Later, at Max’s house, she confronts Nate, who she believes is responsible for her abduction. Max and the boys reveal that Nate reported her missing and has been trying to find her. They suggest that someone is framing Nate and imitating the DBS to isolate Ashley. The group agrees that someone is targeting Ashley. Heath and Carter fight over who will protect her, but Royce becomes the compromise and moves into her dorm as a full-time bodyguard. 

Heath’s condition worsens as he experiences recurring nightmares and severe difficulty sleeping. One night, Heath has a nightmare, and the subsequent emotional intensity leads him to Ashley. They have sex, and shortly after, Heath wakes up, gets dressed in a trance-like state, and leaves the room. A panicked Ashley searches for him. She finds him with Carter and Royce; they are all robed, masked, and unresponsive, carrying gasoline toward the old science hall. 

Nate appears, also in a robe but lucid, and stops Ashley from intervening, explaining that the others are in a trance and it isn’t safe. He reveals that he woke up on the lawn in the robe with no memory of how he got there. As the science hall catches fire, Nate takes Ashley to the boys’ apartment. They find Royce and Carter there, smelling of smoke but with no memory of the event. A noise comes from Heath’s room. Ashley opens the door to find Heath has hanged himself from the ceiling fan.