NIGHTJARS by Michael Wehunt
9781250333728
9/29/26
St. Martin’s Press
Fiction / Horror / Thrillers
On a rainy first date, Luke Oshel’s date vanishes, leaving behind a photo of Luke as a child standing near a corpse and a masked man—an event he doesn’t remember. When more photos surface showing Luke covered in blood and posing with murder victims, he spirals back into the paranoia and repressed memories he’s fought to leave behind.
Soon, Luke becomes the prime suspect in a new string of ritualistic slayings that mimic the crimes hidden away in his childhood memories. Haunted by the legacy of his father, who turns out may have been a serial killer who bled his victims dry, Luke is on the run to stop whoever is behind this from reaching his own daughter, who is about the same age he was in that original photo. Luke must chase his father’s darkness through a centuries-old secret and learn what monsters truly are—and decide if he’s one of them.
Michael Wehunt truly is a master of the horror genre. He doesn’t just make audiences uneasy in the best sense of the word; he creates stories that burrow under your bones, making you fear what is to be uncovered. This one truly is Memento meets DRACULA! As Luke pieces together his past in jagged flashes and photographs, the tension is agonizing—I couldn’t tell if he was the victim or the monster. The entire first half drips with a Rosemary’s Baby level of psychological dread.
Horror fans, take note. NIGHTJARS completely reinvents the vampire novel with a heart-thudding, family-centric nightmare. Get ready to discover the secrets we bury, and the monsters that dwell in us all!
“Michael Wehunt doesn’t just simply tell you a story, he inters you in one. NIGHTJARS is such an immersive nightmare, it feels like being buried alive by a book. You will taste the loam at the back of your throat, the earth clotting up your airways. You’re never climbing out from this novel.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES
“I don’t frequently label things ‘among the best,’ but in the case of Michael Wehunt’s stunning sophomore novel NIGHTJARS, I must make an enthusiastic exception. A terrifying, heartbreaking novel that is as close to perfection as I’ve seen. Absolutely breathtaking.”—Kristi DeMeester, author of DARK SISTERS AND SUCH A PRETTY SMILE
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