Nightjars - by Michael Wehunt (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Memento meets Dracula in this heart-thudding, unpredictable, and beautifully crafted novel of a man exposed for crimes he doesn't remember committing, and the monsters that dwell at the heart of us all, from celebrated and critically acclaimed author Michael Wehunt.

On a rainy night, Luke Oshel gets stood up halfway through a blind date. But before she walks off to the bathroom and never returns, she leaves an old photograph under her napkin--Luke as a child, a dead body in the shadows of his bedroom, and a terrifying masked man. He has no recollection of this event.

Then more photos disrupt his life--Luke posing with murder victims, covered in blood--and he falls back into the deep paranoia and repressed memories he's tried to leave behind. All the drugs and alcohol, therapy, and hypnosis sessions have never conquered his deepest fear--that he hasn't escaped the hidden legacy of his father, who killed his victims by exsanguination before his own death. But now there is a new string of serial killings, and the evidence all points to Luke.

As his journey to uncover the truth unfolds in the North Georgia Appalachians, a threat arises that will risk everything he holds close, including his ex-wife and their young daughter. Now 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.

Review Quotes

Praise for Nightjars:

"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 vampire novel that is as close to perfection as I've seen. Absolutely breathtaking." --Kristi DeMeester, author of Dark Sisters and Such a Pretty Smile

Praise for The October Film Haunt:

"Wehunt is one of the most dynamic voices in horror... perfect for those who love horror featuring urban legends and found footage... a cosmic fusion of William Faulkner's gothic with modern sensibilities. This novel will keep readers guessing until the very last page." --Booklist (starred review)

"The horror in here is palpable, and timely, and sticky, but the writing itself is just as scary: How can one pen have this many good lines in it?" --Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of I Was a Teenage Slasher and Don't Fear the Reaper

"Michael Wehunt's rabbit punch of a novel is as beautifully written as it is affecting. The October Film Haunt cleverly deconstructs horror stories while at the same time constructing one that is so unique and steeped in 21st century paranoia and dread you won't be able to read this alone at night. Speaking for a friend, of course." --Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts

"The October Film Haunt is the written equivalent to the feeling you get when you've entered a space you hadn't realized was occult, alarmingly occult, truly occult. The book feels like an ambush; as real as any fear you've surprisingly endured. It's like Wehunt has a bridle on the narrative, his capacity is something to be celebrated; the chapters unfold like a series of perfectly mystic riddles. This is an extraordinary book, carried by an unsettling baritone hum, not dissimilar to the whir of a VCR that should never have been plugged in to begin with." --Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Incidents Around the House

"Haunting, clever, and flat-out scary. I plan to read it again to figure out how Wehunt pulled it off." --Richard Chizmar, New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Boogeyman and Memorials

"The October Film Haunt will dig a hole in you, plant roots, and grow. Michael Wehunt's novel is both a meditation on film--its language and its power--and a terrifying exploration of how our pasts can haunt us as persistently as any ghost." --Nick Cutter, bestselling author of The Queen and The Troop

"Intelligent, emotional, and very very scary. One of the best books I've read in years. The October Film Haunt begins personal, zooms out to epic, and then ends with you and the book curled alone, in the dark, with someone or something standing, unwelcome, in the corner. Wehunt's prose is beautiful and his observations about horror film fandom and horror filmmaking... hit a little too close to home. But maybe that's just a me thing." --Adam Cesare, USA Today bestselling author of Influencer and Clown in a Cornfield

"Michael Wehunt has given us a book as ominous and slippery as the grainy, uncanny fright flicks its protagonists are consumed by. Full of unshakeable imagery and gorgeous, can't-peel-your-eyes-away prose, The October Film Haunt feels like a cursed tape you're not sure you should've watched, but can't bring yourself to stop." --Nat Cassidy, author of When the Wolf Comes Home and Nestlings

"Infused with atmospheric, seeping dread that slowly creeps down your spine, this is a captivating story not to be missed. Perfectly fuses unhinged online cult fandoms with found footage horror films. Your heart is going to crawl up your throat in the best way." --CG Drews, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Don't Let The Forest In

"Deliciously creepy! Michael Wehunt's The October Film Haunt deftly pairs emotional heft with nightmare fuel against the eerie backdrop of a cult horror film whose obsessed fans are determined to resurrect with a very real sequel. Character-driven, dramatically powerful, and with a distinct creepy flavor, this is my favorite kind of horror." --Craig DiLouie, author of How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive

"The October Film Haunt is a masterpiece of miasma. Imagine The Truman Show helmed by Wes Craven. Author Michael Wehunt manifests one unsafe space after another on nearly every suffocating page of this horror film fever dream, hereby inhabiting his own liminal pedestal of dissonant dread alongside such unparalleled practitioners as Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, and John Langan." --Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

"A labyrinthine and devastatingly complex exploration of lore and trauma, Michael Wehunt's impressive debut novel The October Film Haunt recalls the exemplary unease of his short fiction while forging exciting, new territory in horror. Each page of Wehunt's novel sighs with the terrifying promise of dread, the soft whispers of legends and mythologies aching to be exposed. I remain a dedicated fan of Michael Wehunt." --Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"What Stephen Graham Jones's Indian Lake trilogy does with slasher films, Wehunt's The October Film Haunt does with the found footage and occult genres. A smart, genre-savvy book that gets very, very weird. An excellent and uncompromising debut." --Brian Evenson, author of Good Night, Sleep Tight and Songs for the Unravelling the World

"Sometimes, a horror novel becomes something more. A deepening. A lengthening of thought. An examination turning on its own fulcrum. What Michael Wehunt has done with The October Film Haunt is nothing short of astounding. This is a love letter to horror and the films blessed with that name. I have never read anything quite like this novel, and I don't think I will again." --Kristi DeMeester, Georgia Author of the Year Finalist and author of The Dark Sisters, Such a Pretty Smile, and Beneath

"I'm forever awestruck by Michael Wehunt. His imagination is dark and lyrical, his prose transportive. The October Film Haunt is a masterful work by a horror writer whose talents I want the world to know and love--and fear." --Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind

"The October Film Haunt delves into the realm of the cursed horror film as it asks: Why do some horror movies refuse to stay confined to their screens? But alongside the riveting genre metatext, Wehunt redefines what the supernatural means in the 21st century. Smart, gripping, and utterly terrifying, this book will make you rethink your relationship with both the camera and social media." --Wendy N. Wagner, author of The Deer Kings

"Michael Wehunt's The October Film Haunt builds on the masterful foundation of his short story collections, Greener Pastures and The Inconsolables. A thread of genuine, bone-chilling unease runs throughout all of his work; here it reaches a fever pitch; this is a terrifying novel. There are sequences and images that have invaded my sleep and my daydreams. Read, but beware." --Alison Rumfitt, author of Brainwyrms and Tell Me I'm Worthless

"For a few years now, Michael Wehunt has quietly been producing some of the most unsettling horror short stories in the country. With his first novel, The October Film Haunt, he shows he's even scarier in the long form. This is an eerie and savage work of meta-horror made all the more effective for the delicacy of its psychological portrayals. Slide this one into the VCR and let it wreck you." --Nathan Ballingrud, author of Crypt of the Moon Spider and The Strange

"Wehunt blurs reality and fiction, confounds any expectations, and makes you feel like you're participating in a dark ritual with each turned page." --Vulture

"Wehunt's chilling, spot-on imagery and descriptive prose are what really sell this ambitious concept...a layered slow-burn that speaks of obsession, fandom and the lethal itch to know the truth." --Fangoria

"A chilling and cerebral descent into obsession, grief, and the viral power of belief. Wehunt's horror is as much psychological as it is supernatural--unsettling, original, and unshakably real." --Horror Junkies

"The October Film Haunt is a strong contender for the epic horror novel of the 2020s." --Geek Rage/Strange Library

"A twisted nightmare fit for the 21st century...will delight hardcore horror fans with its heavy dread, innovative prose, and delightful dialogue." --Shelf Awareness

"A love letter to horror films and creatives...damnably haunting and wicked as hell." --FanFiAddict

"With The October Film Haunt, Wehunt has crafted a metafictional reliquary--a haunted artifact masquerading as a novel, or perhaps the other way around. It is not a book to be read so much as inhabited. You do not finish it; you leave it. And when you do, the world outside is slightly less intact." --The Dark Forest

"Simply excellent." --JamReads

"Wehunt knows how to get under your skin." --Book Reporter

"Wehunt has crafted something rare: a horror novel that frightens on multiple registers--viscerally, psychologically, and existentially." --The Bookish Elf

"Terrifying perfection." --Macabre Daily

"Downright chilling...[a] monumental novel." --Camera Macabre

"Blending psychological, supernatural, and conspiracy horror into an engaging, unsettling trip through fandom and its adjacent obsession...as suspenseful as it is thought-provoking." --GeekDad

About the Author

MICHAEL WEHUNT has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, multiple Shirley Jackson Awards, and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts' Crawford Award. In Spain, his stories have garnered nominations for the Premio Ignotus and Premio Amaltea, winning the latter. He haunts the woods outside Atlanta with his partner and their dog.