Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell

Welcome to Babylon, a typical sleepy Alabama small town, where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another: fourteen-year-old Margaret Larkin will be robbed of her innocence and her life by a killer who is beyond the reach of the law.

But something strange is happening in Babylon: traffic lights flash an eerie blue, a ghostly hand slithers from the drain of a kitchen sink, graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror . . . And beneath the murky surface of the river, a shifting, almost human shape slowly takes form. Night after night it will pursue the murderer. And when the full moon rises over Babylon, it will seek a terrible vengeance . . .




The town of Babylon is home for quite a cast of characters. At it's heart, this is a supernatural ghost story, but it is also a tale of greed, the evil that men do and the disparity between the haves and the have nots.  In this quiet little town, Evelyn Larkin waits for her granddaughter to come home on her bicycle from helping her teacher. Margaret Larkin never makes it across the bridge, a mere minute from her house, so close that she can even see her grandmother's window.
There's a cold blooded killer on the loose in Babylon and the murder victims aren't going to wait for the sheriff to bring justice. There is no peace for them until the killer gets what's coming.
I don't know how I would have missed out on reading this back in the 80s but I am quite pleased to have discovered it now.
4 out of 5 stars

Get a copy

Cold Moon Over Babylon (1980), the second novel by Michael McDowell (1950-1999), author of Blackwater and The Elementals and screenwriter of Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a chilling Southern Gothic tale of revenge from beyond the grave that ranks among his most terrifying books. This first-ever reprint features deliciously creepy new cover art by Mike Mignola.