Stay Buried
A Novel
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- 14,99 €
Descrição da editora
From the New York Times bestselling author of Children on the Hill comes a queer folk horror in which a woman must confront decades of secrecy and superstition to learn the truth about her mother’s death.
Some towns stay isolated for a reason.
1919: Frankie O’Massey has always been the black sheep of isolated Boone’s Ferry, Vermont. Her uncle, Dr. Thomas Endicott, has been training her in the science of medicine, something the townspeople are wary of. When a mysterious illness strikes the town, and the community suspects supernatural forces, the two desperately search for a logical explanation. Patient zero seems to be the town’s knackerman—a recluse who collects dead and dying farm animals to make use of their parts.
2016: Siblings Ashley and Malcolm lost their mother two years ago. When their grandmother dies, they inherit a property in Boone’s Ferry—a place they’ve heard of but their grandmother has always refused to talk about—and embark on a trip to their ancestral home. The idyllic town is full of autumnal décor, picturesque farmland, and small-town charm. But some of the townspeople aren’t very welcoming—and they have some unsettling traditions, like leaving offerings to a vengeful spirit four times a year.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This split-timeline queer folk horror from McMahon (My Darling Girl) serves up a solid slice of backwoods weird. In 2016, siblings Ashley and Malcolm inherit a house in the isolated town of Boone's Ferry from their grandmother, who never spoke of the place. Malcolm wants to turn it into the bed and breakfast of his dreams; Ashley just wants to know if Boone's Ferry holds any answers about the mysterious disappearance of their mother, two years earlier. It's a town fossilized and scarred by a strange, recurring trauma: in 1919, an outbreak of a horrifying zoonotic disease killed many people and made a monster out of the town's knackerman, responsible for disposing of dead animals. A hundred years later, the townsfolk still perform bizarre rituals to keep the knackerman from harming them. He should be long dead—he even has a grave, though the headstone bears no name—but those who fail to observe the ritual die in gruesome ways, marked by the knackerman for their fate. When Ashley finds the knackerman's mark painted on her motel door, she realizes she and Malcolm must uncover the truth of what is going on in Boone's Ferry—before it finds her. Though Boone's Ferry lacks the strong sense of place that characterizes the best folk horror, the vibrant cast and McMahon's bold, gutsy prose easily draw readers in. It's a satisfying page-turner.
