OLD COUNTRY

In their debut novel, brothers Matt and Harrison Query explore the ultimate in buyer’s remorse: What if the home of your dreams wants you dead?

Longing to abandon their busy city lives for a quieter and more fulfilling wilderness existence, Harry and Sasha Blakemore gamble big on a remote Idaho property, sight unseen. Former Marine rifleman Harry hopes bonding with nature and his golden retriever will ease his combat trauma from Afghanistan, and Sasha wants to exchange corporate walls for wide-open spaces. With the snowcapped Tetons looming in the distance, their new homestead is everything they dreamed it would be and delivers even more than they bargained for. The couple’s blissful homecoming is interrupted when their nearest neighbors tell them there's a powerful spirit living in their valley and give them a guide to the strict rituals they must observe to survive its trials. Each season of the year presents a more deadly and challenging supernatural threat. The couple embraces their new life even as their skepticism about the paranormal wanes in the face of incontrovertible proof that it exists. Their choice to endure becomes less a matter of passion than persistence as they uncover more closely guarded and dangerous secrets. They may never leave the valley again. The authors combine their talent for action-packed horror scenes with picturesque descriptions of mountain living, creating refreshing lulls to contrast with the intense moments of terror. Though all the backstory that's loaded into the beginning of the book slows the pace of the early chapters—narrated alternately by Harry and Sasha—little goes to waste. The payoff is an emotional and psychological journey that deepens the layers of this entertaining horror story. Don’t forget to bring a four-legged ally; you’ll need all the help you can get.

Fans of Stephen King and Paul Tremblay will find this a satisfying escape into the woods.