The Night Will Find Us

by Matthew Lyons

Overview

They say never go into the woods at night…

School’s out for summer and that means one thing to Parker, Chloe, and their four friends: a well-deserved camping trip in the Pine Barrens, a million-acre forest deep in the heart of New Jersey. But when old grudges erupt, an argument escalates into the unthinkable, leaving one of them dead and the killer missing. As darkness descends and those left alive try to determine a course of action, the forest around them begins to change…

In the morning, more of the group has vanished and the path that led them into the woods is gone—as if consumed by the forest itself. Lost and hungry, the remaining friends set out to find help, only to realize that the forest seems to have other plans—a darker, ancient horror lies dead and dreaming in a lake in the center of the woods. And it’s calling to them.

Meanwhile, deep in the trees, the killer is still at large, and one of the group’s own has started to transform and warp into something other. Something inhuman. Something that wants to feast.

Banding together to survive, the friends soon begin to understand the true nature of the horror waiting for them in the Pine Barrens—and that not all of them will make it out alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684425426
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	10/20/2020
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Matthew Lyons is the author of dozens of short stories, with his work appearing in the 2018 edition of Best American Short Stories (edited by Roxane Gay) and more. Born and raised in Colorado, he lives with his wife and their cat.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/10/2020

Lyons’s masterful debut takes readers into the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens for a hair-raising adventure. Six friends—Adam, Chloe, Josh, Nate, Nicky, and Parker—embark on a camping trip to celebrate the end of their junior year of high school. The trip is a thinly veiled excuse for Parker to search for his missing father, who vanished into the Barrens earlier in the year. When Nate picks a fight with Parker, who’s grown increasingly unhinged since his father’s disappearance, Parker pulls a gun and shoots him in the head, the first in a series of horrific events. As the teens scramble to understand the tragedy, the forest around them comes alive with a primordial evil fueled by the ghosts of those who have been killed within its confines. Lyons’s prose is electric, transforming a familiar horror setup into a twisty, nightmarish roller coaster replete with scares that will startle even the most jaded horror reader. This shiver-inducing thriller is not for the faint of heart. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, the Seymour Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

“[a] masterful debut…” – Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)

“Matthew Lyons’ uncompromising debut The Night Will Find Us plunges the reader into disorienting madness as the physical rules of the world disintegrate before a slumbering, unknowable evil. Lyons' confident dissection of body horror and the secrets of those closest to us makes for a haunting read that will keep the reader turning pages long into the night. Don’t bring this book camping unless you want to shiver at every rustle of the pines.” – Taylor Zajonc, award-winning author of The Maw

“The Night Will Find Us will get under your skin like the sentinel trees in the Pine Barrens. This is one of the creepiest stories I’ve read in a long time—and I can’t stop thinking about it. What a spectacular debut by Matthew Lyons! Read it—but with the lights on.” —Amina Akhtar, author #FashionVictim

"The Night Will Find Us reads like a Stan Winston creature feature by way of Richard Bachman, with a dash of H.P. Lovecraft to boot. It's sharply written, mesmerizing, and propulsive. Matthew Lyons' debut novel is first-rate in every respect." — Andy Davidson, award-winning author of The Boatman's Daughter

“The Night Will Find Us is an engrossing story of six teenagers, a camping trip, and a million-acre forest that distorts both its shape and the truth. With each turn of the page, the tension and unease grows until it becomes a claustrophobic nightmare. You’ll view the woods in a whole new light after reading this one. Highly recommended!” –Damien Angelica Walters, award-winning author of The Dead Girls Club

“[a] masterful debut… Lyons’s prose is electric, transforming a familiar horror setup into a twisty, nightmarish roller coaster replete with scares that will startle even the most jaded horror reader. This shiver-inducing thriller is not for the faint of heart.” – Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)

"Matthew Lyons is what happens if you mix the growing pains of a Stephen King character, with the body horror of Clive Barker and the love of the unknown of H P Lovecraft and his debut novel ‘The Night Will Find Us’ is a strong indication of not only the raw talent Lyons has a writer, but as a taster of what could come in future novels." – Modern Horrors

"a cinematic and intelligent blend of folk and cosmic horror" – Sublime Horror

From the Publisher