The Mountain Devils

THE TERRAIN OF EAST TENNESSEE hides many terrors: meth labs, moonshiners, and a series of brutal murders committed by a teenage girl. The law is too slow, the migrant workers aren’t talking, and the snake-handling preachers know something the rest of the town doesn’t. Mexican paranormal investigator, Cassandra Jimenez, aims to find out exactly why the girl has been killing with impunity, but she can’t do it alone. Erik van de Roer, a South African-born veteran of Afghanistan who helps the local church run liquor across the mountain ranges, agrees to help Cassandra as long as she’s willing to face unimaginable terror. In the forgotten corners of America, where time and culture have given way to necessity and survival, Cassandra will confront the ugly truth about human nature and everything else that is inhuman.

Rich and engaging. Reading it is like being bitten by a cobra: the first sentences are sharp and unpleasant followed by a strange euphoria.

Mary Beth Arthur, Rose Hips