Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

Moving to rural Georgia, a failed academic plans to write a history of his family's old plantation and the horrors that occurred there but instead discovers a sense of unspoken dread among the townspeople and a long-standing debt of blood. 100,000 first printing.

Straight out going to say this: This is the best werewolf book I have read. Period.

Christopher Buehlman writes with a beautiful prose which really elevates this story telling. Those Across The River is an intriguing take on werewolves, taking a southern gothic bent to it. The Deep South setting gives a wonderful damp and squalid twist to the story, the rural and slightly isolated setting with its strange traditions playing into the overall mystery of the idea. Those Across The River is a subtle take on the werewolf concept - the monsters are very much hidden throughout the first half of the book with only vague allusions. The links to civil war, slavery and oppression are intriguing and add to the general miasma of the setting. There is a beauty to the way it is written which belies the ugliness at the heart of some of the key themes here.

This is werewolf horror of the highest calibre and a must read for those who like this genre!

The pacing and unusual setting/time period for this story are the aspects of this story that really hooked me. Skilled use of description and dialogue created an absolutely believable world that stayed with me even when I closed the book. Hope the author continues to write more like this.