Marvel Reveals Cover Art, New Details for Jessica Jones Crime Novel

Marvel Entertainment has revealed the official cover art for Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel by Lisa Jewell.

In August 2023, Hyperion Avenue announced Marvel Crime — a new series of adult fiction novels starring Marvel Comics‘ street-level heroes. Breaking the Dark, the first of these novels, arrives in bookstores early this coming July. At this time, Marvel has revealed the covers for both the U.S and U.K. editions of Jewell’s book. (Hyperion publishes the former, while the latter hails from Penguin Random House UK.) Both covers evoke the dark, noir world of Jessica Jones.

Check out the cover art for Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel below:

What is Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel about?

An official synopsis for Breaking the Dark reads as follows:

Meet Jessica Jones: Retired super hero, private investigator, loner. She tried her best to be a shiny spandex crimefighter, but that life only led to unspeakable trauma. Now she avoids that world altogether and works on surviving day-to-day in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.

The morning a distraught mother comes into her office, Jessica would prefer to nurse her hangover and try to forget last night’s poor choices. But something about Amber Randall’s story strikes a chord with her. Amber is adamant that something happened to her teenage twins while they were visiting their father in the UK. The twins don’t act like themselves, and they now have flawless skin, have lost their distinctive tics and habits, and keep talking about a girl named Belle. Amber insists her children have been replaced by something horrible, something "perfect."

Traveling to a small village in the British countryside, Jessica meets the mysterious Belle, who lives a curiously isolated life in an old farmhouse with a strange woman who claims to be her guardian. Can this unworldly teenager really be responsible for the Randall twins’ new personas? Why does the strange little village of Barton Wallop seem to harbor dark energies and mysteries in its tight-knit community?

A mother’s intuition is never wrong. And Jessica knows that nothing in life is perfect—not these kids, not her on-again, off-again relationship with Luke Cage, and certainly not Jessica herself. But even as she tries to buy into the idea that better days are ahead, Jessica Jones has seen all too clearly that behind every promise of perfection trails a dark, dangerous shadow.

Of course, Jewell’s Jessica Jones-led novel isn’t the only book the Marvel Crime line has in store. Hyperion has also announced a Luke Cage novel by S.A. Cosby, as well as a Daredevil novel by Alex Segura.

Lisa Jewell opens up about her Marvel novel

“As a young girl growing up in England, the comics I read featured stories about dolls’ hospitals and aspiring ballerinas, so I wasn’t initially sure I should be the one to write a novel based on the comics of today. But then I heard the name Jessica Jones and did an abrupt about-face,” Jewell said in a new interview with Marvel.com.

“I love Jessica Jones! Who doesn’t love Jessica Jones?! And not only is Jessica Jones my favorite Marvel character, she is also a private investigator, and I have never written about a private investigator before, so it felt like there was a lot to get my hooks into,” the author continued. “I first of all set about reading the full Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos ALIAS comic series and came to the first page of my novel fired up with pure Jessica energy.”

On that note, Jewel added, “I found a place between the events of the ALIAS series where my story could take place. I knew that Jessica at this time was starting to be aware of the fact that she might be pregnant, and I knew that would be a brilliant aspect to play with, especially as a woman writer. I also knew this meant she’d be struggling with not drinking and smoking and with her feelings about Luke Cage and the up-till-now casual nature of their relationship — all of which would be great fun to write about.”

All told, Jewel says that readers can expect “a rollercoaster transatlantic adventure involving a colorful cast of rogues and villains, a power-crazed beauty influencer, some dark romance, a precocious teen detective, clairvoyants, dystopian tech, Jessica Jones at her most Jessica-y, and an immortal cat called Mr. Smith.”

Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel goes on sale in the United States on Tuesday, July 2 from Hyperion Avenue. The book arrives in the United Kingdom on Thursday, July 4 from Penguin Random House UK.