The Paleontologist

Simon Nealy has carried one afternoon for most of his life. His sister Morgan, aged six, was abducted from the Hawthorne Museum of Natural History while he was meant to be watching her. He is now a curator of paleontology, and he is grieving twice over: a relationship has ended, and the aunt who raised him has died.

When the Hawthorne, closed during the pandemic and falling apart, offers him a post, he takes it. The pull of the place where Morgan disappeared is stronger than any good sense about returning.

Simon works largely alone in the empty building, and it starts to behave strangely. He hears animal sounds with no source, finds bloody footprints, and catches sight of a prehistoric shape moving in the dark. Whether the museum is haunted or he is coming apart is a question the book keeps open.

He looks for answers in the handwritten diaries of Dr. Albert J. Mueller, who held his post before him. The entries point to a bloody mystery that stretches back 150 million years, and to the truth about what happened to Morgan.

The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas is a gothic ghost story combined with dinosaur horror. Guilt and grief run through it, and the setting is a decaying museum, isolated and eerie.