Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Here is a full summary with spoilers of Vicious

Victor Vale and Eli Cardale are roommates at Lockland University—both brilliant, competitive, and complete opposites. Victor is introverted, awkward, and resents his famous self-help author parents. He expresses himself by blacking out their books and leaving cryptic phrases behind. He also quietly pines for Angie, who becomes Eli’s girlfriend their sophomore year.

Eli is charismatic and adored, but Victor senses something darker beneath the surface. Eli is religious, often praying, and reveals scars from his abusive, minister father. Victor is both fascinated and jealous of him.

For their senior thesis, Eli chooses to study EO’s—ExtraOrdinary people with superpowers. He theorizes that EOs are created through near-death experiences. Victor, determined not to be sidelined, demands to be a test subject. He overdoses, but Eli panics and calls for help before Victor dies. When Eli tries next—submerging himself in an ice bath—Victor brings him back with epipens. Eli revives with regenerative healing powers.

Victor is desperate to match Eli. He convinces Angie to electrocute him in her lab, lying about Eli’s experiments. The pain is excruciating, and Victor dies—but a chemical he took revives him with a power over pain. The ability flares out of control and kills Angie. He calls Eli, who betrays him to the police. Victor escapes jail briefly to confront Eli. In their brutal fight, Victor stabs Eli and suppresses his healing with pain, but Eli shoots him multiple times. Victor blacks out.

Eli claims self-defense and begins erasing all evidence of his thesis. He kills his professor and a janitor to cover his tracks. Believing most EOs are abominations, Eli sets out to find and kill them—excluding himself. His first kill is Wallace. The only one who survives him is Serena, a woman with the power to control people. She seduces and manipulates Eli, intrigued by his resistance. They begin a romantic and murderous partnership. Serena secretly coerces Officers Stell and Dane into helping them hunt EOs, painting Eli as a hero.

Ten years later, Victor escapes prison with the help of his clever and misunderstood cellmate, Mitch. They pick up Sydney, a 12-year-old girl with a gunshot wound—Serena’s sister, who’s running from Eli. Sydney and Serena died and came back as EOs after falling through thin ice. Serena gained mind control, Sydney the ability to raise the dead.

Victor realizes Eli is in the city of Merit after spotting him in a newspaper photo. Sydney confesses Eli tried to kill her after she revived a corpse. Victor shows her his scars. They join forces, bringing Sydney’s dead dog back to life (whom she names Dol) and resurrecting one of Eli’s past victims—Barry Lynch—to send a message. Victor wants to draw Eli out.

Meanwhile, Mitch searches databases and finds most potential EOs are dead—evidence of Eli’s campaign. Eli, hunting again, kills a blue-haired college student and learns Barry is alive, confirming Sydney’s survival. Serena begins losing control over Eli’s mind, suggesting he’s evolving past her influence.

Victor interrogates and kills Dane, one of Serena’s brainwashed cops, after extracting access credentials. They discover Eli is working with the entire police department, thanks to Serena’s power. Victor sets a trap by uploading his own EO profile to the police database with a meeting location: the half-built Falcon Price tower.

Victor recruits Dominic Rusher, a potential EO who can manipulate shadows and disappear. In exchange for permanent pain relief, Dominic agrees to help. Eli ambushes Mitch at a bar, but Mitch survives thanks to a vest. As they regroup, Sydney is found by Serena at the hotel. Serena, trying to protect her, inadvertently pushes Sydney to run to the Falcon Price building.

At the tower, Serena tries to command Mitch to shoot himself, but his gun is empty. Sydney runs into Eli and shoots him in the face—he heals instantly. Victor and Dominic emerge from the shadows, and Victor slits Serena’s throat before she can speak. They burn her body to spare Sydney the trauma.

Eli shoots Dol and turns the gun on Sydney, but she vanishes—pulled into the shadows by Dominic. Victor and Eli engage in a savage, blood-soaked battle. Victor mirrors Eli’s old wounds, while Eli uses knives to retaliate. Though Victor dulls his pain, he can’t keep up with Eli’s healing. Eventually, Eli stabs Victor fatally in the chest.

The police arrive. Eli expects their support, but they’re no longer under Serena’s control. He’s arrested and pleads for them to burn Victor’s body. They refuse.

That night, Mitch, Sydney, Dominic, and Dol dig up Victor’s grave. Sydney revives him. He smiles.

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