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by Dennis Mahoney
Chilling holiday horror about an unhappy couple running from their problems and straight into the maw of a terrifying beast, perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay and Sara Gran.
For the last year, Holly and Brian have been out of sync. Neither can forget what happened that one winter evening; neither can forgive what's happened since. Tonight, Holly and Brian race toward Pinebuck, New York, trying to outrun a blizzard on their way to the ski village getaway they hope will save their relationship. But soon they lose control of the car—and then of themselves.
Now Sheriff Kendra Book is getting calls about a couple in trouble—along with reports of a brutal and mysterious creature rampaging through town, leaving a trail of crushed cars, wrecked buildings, and mangled bodies in the snow.
To Kendra, who lost another couple to the snow just seven weeks ago, the danger feels personal. But not as personal as it feels to Holly and Brian, who are starting to see the past, the present, and themselves in a monstrous new light ...
Mahoney's exhilarating story moves like an avalanche, but its desperate characters, claustrophobic setting, and shocking displays of gore will stay with you long after the snow has melted. Our Winter Monster captures the horrifying moments that test if we're strong enough to weather the worst—and asks who we might survive the storm with.
"A couple grapples with monstrosity in this tense horror novel...Mahoney pulls it off beautifully, with legitimately terrifying action scenes and a creeping sense of horror threaded through the book. But where he shines brightest is in his depiction—sensitive and accurate—of post-traumatic stress and anxiety...Smart, sensitive, and scary as hell." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Plenty of in-the-moment tension to hook readers' interest...[and] plenty of blood and guts to keep horror fans happy." —Publishers Weekly
"Ideal for fans of horror like Darcy Coates's Dead of Winter, this novel is crime fiction blended with horror and psychological suspense." —Library Journal
"Our Winter Monster is a truly satisfying blend of supernatural, survival, and physiological horror. Just as surprising as it is heartbreaking, every page pulls you deeper into a storm that you'll never forget." —Erin E. Adams, author of Jackal
"Like a couples therapy session straight out of our nightmares, Our Winter Monster serves up a slab of profoundly unsettling relationship terror—probing into the very nature of love by exploring what brings us together and what tears us apart—while ripping the reader to pieces in the process. Dennis Mahoney is just the horror counselor we readers need to see us through this gripping chiller and survive." —Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
This information about Our Winter Monster was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dennis Mahoney is the author of Fellow Mortals, a Booklist Top Ten Debut; Bell Weather, an Indie Next pick; Ghostlove; and My Heart Is Full of Blood. He lives in Troy, NY, with his wife, son, and dog.
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