Deadlight Jack

In this tense, horrific thriller, Onspaugh revisits characters from his previous novel, The Faceless One, and experiments with an inventive suffusion of the supernatural with a Southern gothic sensibility. Jimmy Kalmaku is a resourceful elderly shaman, and his friend George Watters has also dealt with the supernatural. When the demonic Deadlight Jack kidnaps George’s grandson, George and Jimmy must find him, which involves dredging up old family secrets and venturing into the depths of the horror-ridden Atchafalaya Swamp somewhere in the American South. Onspaugh maintains an undercurrent of eldritch terror while keeping the plot buoyed by fast-paced action scenes. The book suffers from some heavy-handed exposition, and Onspaugh’s frequent references to Jimmy and George’s previous adventures slows the trajectory, but Deadlight Jack is a genuinely terrifying villain, and his environment and entourage are enough to make this book a nicely chilling read for fans of otherworldly horror. (Jan.)