The Bird Eater

Book excerpt: Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn't come easy and Aaron's arrival stirs a hornet's nest, both among his former friends in the town and in the supernatural force in the house, which has trained its wicked gaze on Aaron's fragile, damaged psyche.