Those Across the River

by:  Christopher Buehlman
published by: 
publish date:  September 6, 2011

Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten.

A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming...

The first thing you should know if you should decide to read this book is that it is set in the 1930s.  I was unclear on that when I started reading it and I kept wondering why everyone was talking so weird.  Once I got that little fact straight in my head, it made a lot more sense and it read beautifully. 

Mr. Buehlman's talent is clearly in creating a mood.  The emotions throughout this book were so strong.  The sense of dread and dispair that settles over the town is captivating.  This was one of the things that kept me reading this book.

The period between when the reader realizes there's a bad guy and finds out who the bad guy is feels really long.  What the bad guys are is a little disappointing, but there's only so many paranormal type creatures to go around I guess. 

This was one of the best horror novels I've read in awhile.  I will say it is very R rated though.  Language, violence, sex are all on the explicit side.  There's not a whole lot of any of it, so don't get the impression that it's a raunchy book, but what there is, particularly of the violence, is graphic.