In this Appalachian horror novel, two estranged siblings become trapped in a convenience store under attack by a monster from the mountains who feasts on guilty hearts.
Rattle, rattle in the dark…
The mountain’s bones seek out a heart.
Jane has not spoken to her brother Thomas since the accident that nearly killed them both. Their drive from college through the North Georgia mountains is uncomfortably silent, until they stop at a roadside convenience store, where a man stumbles in with a mutilated body, claiming to have been attacked by a monster.
At first, no one believes the man’s ravings, but when the next person to leave the store is brutally killed, they fear that local legend might be true:
There’s a beast in these mountains who feasts on guilty hearts… and someone among them has lured it out of hiding.
Jane and Thomas each harbor secrets, but so do the other patrons, and as the monster claims more hearts, the survivors turn on each other, desperate to save themselves by uncovering the guiltiest among them.
If the siblings can’t overcome the rift between them, they’ll surely become the monster’s next victims…or worse, become monsters themselves.
Jane and Thomas are estranged siblings, thrown together for the first time in months on a forced road trip to spend an uncomfortable Thanksgiving with their parents. What is meant to be a quick stop at a convenience store on the way turns into the stuff of nightmares when they become trapped with a small group of strangers by a supernatural creature that feasts on guilt.
How much did I love this book? Let me count the ways!
The strained relationship between Jane and Thomas pulled me in immediately and kept me guessing why and how Thomas could possibly hold Jane responsible for a car accident when she was not the driver.
The claustrophobic feel of being trapped in the store with no means of escape and never knowing who the monster's intended victim was, since everyone in the store has a secret guilt it can feed on.
Folk horror, grief, trauma and suspense! The creature itself, a shape shifting monster said to be the very bones that hold up the mountain, seeking a guilty heart to take its place.
I don't usually do comparisons, but if you enjoyed The Mist by Stephen King, this is definitely for you, but without the sci-fi element, it's pure horror.
My thanks to Berkley for the e-ARC.
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