Near the Bone

Mattie lives on a mountain with William. She has no memory of any life before it, and she knows the first rule of the place: William must never be made angry. Terrible things follow when he is.

Then Mattie finds the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, and she understands that something else is living on the mountain. It has sharp teeth and claws, and at night it makes strange cries that were not heard here before.

Three strangers climb to the mountaintop, hunting the creature. Mattie is certain William will not welcome them, and his temper is the thing she fears most.

Dread runs through this horror novel, and the threat comes from two directions: the animal in the trees and the man in her own home. The question the book turns on is which of them Mattie has more reason to fear once the visitors arrive.