EDGEWISE

Beware what you wish for, Mom.

Once Jeff and Lily Blake were happy in their love and their family. But then Jeff’s computer division was sold off and he fought with his boss and left. The best substitute he could get was a dead-end job while he watched Lily’s star rise in her Minneapolis realty office. Seething with guilt and resentment, Jeff filed for divorce, and sorrowful Lily thought he was out of her life. She realizes her mistake only when two masked men, stalwarts of FLAME (Fathers’ League Against Mothers’ Evil) break into her house, snatch her son and daughter and torch the place, leaving her for dead. When the FBI agents assigned to the case prove no help, Lily meets with hard-drinking private eye John Shooks, who assures her that Mdewakanton tracker George Iron Walker can recover Tasha and Sammy if only Lily will pay the price he demands. His prediction is proved horrifyingly true when George summons the Wendigo, a demonic spirit of the hunt, and he responds by killing and consuming everyone in his path. Lily has scant opportunity to celebrate the traumatized children’s return before she realizes that she’ll never be able to meet the price she agreed to pay George and that the Wendigo is coming after her.

Masterton (Touchy and Feely, 2006, etc.) serves up a typical blend—part thriller, part supernatural horror, part modern-day fairy tale—for like-minded fans.