Descension by Edmund Stone

Something is buried beneath Salt Flat.

When Cole Masters moves his family into an aging house on the edge of town, the worst he expects is creaking pipes and sleepless nights. But the sounds in the walls aren't settling noises—and the darkness under the floor isn't empty.

Miles away, a mining operation shuts down without warning. New owners arrive. Strange cargo is delivered deep below the earth. Then the workers start disappearing.

At first, the two worlds don't connect. A restless child. A cut finger. A vent that won't stay closed. Small things. Easy to ignore. Until they aren't.

As Cole digs deeper—into the town, the mine, and the people who run both—he uncovers something far older than Salt Flat. Something broken. Something scattered. Something that has waited a long time to be made whole again. And it's not staying buried.

Now, with his family caught in the middle and the town unraveling around him, Cole is forced to confront a truth no one else is willing to see:

The danger isn't what lies beneath. It's what's coming up. Descension is a relentless supernatural horror novel about what happens when the ground gives way—and something begins to rise from the dark.

I want to call this small-town horror, but Salt Flat has much more going on than your typical down home folksy characters fending off an unknown evil. When Cole Masters, former small town football star turned wannabe writer, turned cop, moves his family into the creaky old house on the edge of town, don't think those noises in the vent are rodents. And if you say, AHA! it's a ghost! You are way off too. (Although you will meet some ghosts in this novel.)

What is it in that vent? Well, honestly, I am not sure, but it's connected to the mine, which has suddenly been closed by the russian mafia, who you might think have something to do with the deal between the Mexican cartel and the hillbilly drug dealers. Am I giving away too much of the plot? I don't think so because you'll barely be a few pages in when it gets even crazier than this.

There are a lot of characters, but there was no worry of confusing who was who because they were very distinctive and impossible to mix up. Descension is an insane wild ride with nearly nonstop action and suspense and several heart in your throat moments. This was my first read by Edmund Stone, but I feel compelled to read Tent Revival now.

My thanks to Crystal Lake Publishing/Sinister Smile Press for the e-ARC.

Get a copy