Pearl

Up Murdock, away from downtown Chowder, passing the wheat fields and the forest east of the road, tall pines that unfolded like a long, complex bedspread, separating Chowder from Goblin and the other less agricultural areas of mid-Michigan, they pulled onto Grandpa s gravel drive just before noon. Sherry eyed Jeff briefly, checking to see if maybe he d had a change of heart. If maybe he was smiling like he used to. Grandpa s world was a fun world if you let it be. The farm. Where Jeff and Aaron used to ride the horses and chase chickens and oink at the pigs. Where the brothers spent nights outside, sometimes without a tent, sometimes just on their backs on the grassy slope that led from the farmhouse to the barn. This place was childhood. This place was supposed to be special. The farm meant something.

Doesn t it?

Sherry hadn t meant to say that out loud.

Doesn t what? Aaron asked. But Sherry didn t answer. And Jeff stared at her like he might ve known what she was thinking.

Sherry parked the wagon by the front porch steps. She looked up to see Grandpa standing behind the screen door. He waved.

Hey, Dad, Mom called from behind the rolled-up window.

Grandpa waved again, as if maybe he d forgotten he d already done so.

His thin white hair stirred with an easy autumn breeze. Sherry wondered what was on his mind, what clutter of his own.

She and the boys got out of the car.

Hello, Sherry, Grandpa said. Hello, boys. He looked tired. Sherry always said Grandpa was toughened by farm life. Jeff used to believe that.

Sherry hugged him at the door.

Thought I d put them to work today, Grandpa said, nodding to the boys.

That sounds good, Mom said. They could use it. And it would give her a chance to grovel in private.

It had been a hard summer.

Stuff it in the mind-bag.

Yes. The mind-bag. The secret, unseen place where Sherry stuffed all her dark thoughts, her absurd worries, the unprovoked hunches she d felt most her life,

Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, was the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name. His other novels include Unbury Carol, Inspection, A House at the Bottom of a Lake, and Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box. Malerman lives in Michigan with his fiancée, the artist/musician Allison Laakko.

Daring readers should find this tale of a malevolent telepathic pig to be a memorable experience. . . . The novel shares the same racing narrative that made Bird Box hard to put down and is Malerman s most accomplished work outside of the Bird Box series. Booklist (starred review)
 
A perfect, fast-paced slasher filled with violent, cinematic action sequences . . . Malerman delivers with another completely different yet equally crowd-pleasing and awesome horror novel that is not to be missed. Library Journal (starred review)
 
A strange, un-put-down-able thriller . . . part twisted fairy tale, part animal rights protest, part PTSD drama, and part Triumph the Insult Dog, the novel never runs out of unsettling doors to open. Kirkus Reviews