Read more
Zusatztext * “Jude’s characters exude authenticity, and the suspense stays palpable through the final pages.” — Publishers Weekly, STARRED review "Poetic, multisensory narration immerses the reader in mystery and horror. Multiple red herrings keep the pages turning." — VOYA "It will appeal to readers of traditional horror titles as well as the more casual fan looking for an exciting, creepy read. The macabre descriptions sprinkled throughout are haunting and edgy and will thrill readers who like to be spooked." — School Library Journal "A wayward girl and a monster in the woods make a familiar tale, but Jude gets it just right, portioning out the precise amount of gore, secrets, sex, and deception to make a thrillingly dark murder mystery with touches of horror and the supernatural." — Bulletin "Debuting author Jude vividly describes the pastoral community, cultivating a sensual sense of atmosphere with descriptions of smells, textures, and sounds." — Booklist “This present-day mystery is ripe with superstition and serves up an atmospheric, authentic-feeling setting.” — Kirkus "This book weeps atmosphere. Rich, intense, and sporting a cast of characters you will fall in love with, it draws you into the sordid doings of Rowan’s Glen and doesn’t let you go.” —Hillary Monahan, author of Mary: The Summoning “Dark, dangerous, and drippingly gothic.” —Gretchen McNeil, author of Ten and the Don’t Get Mad series Informationen zum Autor SARAH JUDE lives by the woods and has an owl that lands on her chimney every night. She grew up believing you had to hold your breath when passing a graveyard. Now she writes about cemeteries, murder, and folklore. She resides in Missouri with her husband, three children, and two dogs. When she's not writing, she can be found volunteering at a stable for disabled riders. Visit her website at www.sarahjude.com. Klappentext Stay on the roads. Don't enter the woods. Never go out at night. Those are the rules in Rowan's Glen, a remote farming community in the Missouri Ozarks where Ivy Templeton's family has lived for centuries. It's an old-fashioned way of life, full of superstition and traditions, and sixteen-year-old Ivy loves it. The other kids at school may think the Glen kids are weird, but Ivy doesn't care-she has her cousin Heather as her best friend. The two girls share everything with each other-or so Ivy thinks. When Heather goes missing after a May Day celebration, Ivy discovers that both her best friend and her beloved hometown are as full of secrets as the woods that surround them. PROLOGUE Now Kerosene slopped from the rusty pail and splashed against the abandoned stable. Fumes burned my eyes but didn’t blur my father’s silhouette as he faced the building, bucket in hand. It would burn and, with it, the body inside. “Go to hell!” Papa’s shoulders twisted as he wheeled back, shouting, sweeping the pail around. More kerosene rained against the wood while bile scorched my throat. I was too tired to get sick on the hay, my body wasted from screaming. I wiped my hand over my mouth and something snagged my lip. My fingernail was missing, a ragged root jutting from the bloody bed. Bitten off and swallowed by someone who wanted me dead. This ain’t real. Yet I smelled the kerosene and felt the spring air and the dust in my nose, my feet firm on the ground. No matter how my mind ached to fly away, it tethered to a stark truth. This was real. “Ivy, stay back,” Papa warned, and then looked to Mama, c...
