Mare of Easttown meets The Outsider in this spine-tingling and twisty debut about a series of disappearances in a small, fundamentalist town and what one broken family must do to remain together as dark forces close in.
After losing her young son in an accident, Rachel Kennan throws herself into her career as police chief of a small Virginia town to avoid focusing on her grief. Meanwhile, her husband, Finn, a washed-up writer whose alcoholism led to the devastating tragedy that changed everything, struggles to redeem himself before his family completely falls apart. Their two daughters are the only things keeping Rachel and Finn together, but the girls have demons of their own.
At the same time, a disturbing crime rocks their tightknit, religious community, sending Rachel chasing leads in a place that does not take kindly to outsiders. When an ominous force in the forest starts calling to the children, fear spawns hate among the townspeople, placing the Kennan family directly in the line of fire. Left with no choice but to rely on each other, Rachel and Finn must come together to face threats inside and out.
A haunting family saga and a disquieting horror debut, Nowhere draws from Appalachian folklore to caution us that true terror is what we bury in our own hearts.
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Review: WOW. I cannot believe this is a debut -- if this is the level of bleak and brutal Gunn is starting at, I cannot wait to see where she goes next! Navigating queerness, compulsive heterosexuality, and classism while wrestling with a rural and religious upbringing is horrific enough on its own, but Gunn pushes its possibilities to the bleakest limits. With a couple of different life choices and circumstances, I could see myself becoming either one of the protagonists, and that really underlined the hopelessness and terror of their situation. I read this in one sitting and had to lay down after the final scene, which is a stamp of approval from me. Between this and The Lamb by Lucy Rose, 2025 has some phenomenally devastating queer horror so far.
Relationships and/or identities: WLW protagonist