An impulsive young outcast confronts his small town’s dark secrets in this atmospheric and haunting debut horror novel from brilliant new voice Jen Julian.
The town of Blacknot is not what it appears, and a place on its desolate edge known only as The Night House is calling...
What remains of Jesse’s mother can fit inside an old jerky tin. Photos, postcards, a single, worn-out bracelet. But nothing that can explain why she was found dead eighteen years earlier on the bank of a river, her infant son left wailing by her side. When Jesse starts to receive anonymous messages promising him answers, he returns home to the regressive town of Blacknot, North Carolina so that his lifelong obsession can finally be laid to rest.
But Jesse’s investigation is stirring up trouble with the locals, including his well-armed ex-boyfriend and the mysterious daughter of a local businessman, each with their own inscrutable agendas. They will soon find that this backwater town holds a power more volatile than any of them could have imagined, and that the answers they seek might be better left buried.
Southern Gothic meets slow-burn dread in this genre-bending horror novel where an impulsive outcast must confront his small town’s dark secrets.
"Deeply immersive and darkly mysterious. Certain to be one of the year's standout horror reads." ―Craig DiLouie, author of Episode Thirteen
Eighteen years ago, an infant Jesse Calloway was found wailing on the bank of a river, his mother dead beside him. The mystery of her death has haunted him all his life, and despite every effort, he has never been able to uncover the truth.
Now someone is promising him answers. An anonymous source claims that they'll tell him everything. But only if he returns to the hometown he swore he'd left in the rearview.
But in Blacknot, North Carolina, nothing is as it seems. It's a town that buries its secrets deep. Jesse's relentless investigation garners attention from intimidating locals, including his dangerous ex-boyfriend. And he'll soon discover that this backwater town hides a volatile and haunting place on its desolate edge.
The Night House is calling. Some secrets are better left buried...
"At once elegiac and deeply visceral. A bittersweet ode to all the ways in which a place can haunt us long after we've departed―and transform us when we return." ―Georgia Summers, #1 international bestselling author of The City of Stardust
"Julian weaves a dark spell with the bones of southern gothic storytelling and gorgeous prose. To enter this haunted swamp of a novel is to lose yourself in cosmic mystery." ―Andy Marino, author of The Swarm
"Drenched in dread and yearning, Red Rabbit Ghost is the kind of Gothic novel that you don't so much read as inhale. I loved it." ―Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
