Brenda Simmons thinks she is going on a date, not volunteering her soul. Albert McPherson is handsome, charismatic, and carrying a tragedy he knows exactly how to spend. A late-night drive ends at his dream cabin deep in the Charlotte woods, a showpiece built over an underground river you can watch through the glass living room floor. The air smells like pine and money and something older. The chemistry is immediate, and so is the unease.
Because the house is not Albert's. It belongs to Mona, an ancient, 1, 400-pound mole hidden beneath the floorboards, and Albert is her servant. For decades he has lured lovers down to her dark, offering up strangers in exchange for his own survival. When Brenda is swallowed into Mona's subterranean cavern of flesh, she meets Dr. Percy Lavon Julian, a brilliant historical chemist trapped inside the beast with reality-bending power and a contract that is about to run out.
To escape, Brenda will have to survive Albert's betrayal, outsmart a creature that collects souls like marrow, and decide what she is willing to become to see daylight again. Perfect for fans of Jeff VanderMeer.
Brenda Simmons thinks she is going on a date, not volunteering her soul. Albert McPherson is handsome, charismatic, and carrying a tragedy he knows exactly how to spend. A late-night drive ends at his dream cabin deep in the Charlotte woods, a showpiece built over an underground river you can watch through the glass living room floor. The air smells like pine and money and something older. The chemistry is immediate, and so is the unease.
Because the house is not Albert's. It belongs to Mona, an ancient, 1, 400-pound mole hidden beneath the floorboards, and Albert is her servant. For decades he has lured lovers down to her dark, offering up strangers in exchange for his own survival. When Brenda is swallowed into Mona's subterranean cavern of flesh, she meets Dr. Percy Lavon Julian, a brilliant historical chemist trapped inside the beast with reality-bending power and a contract that is about to run out.
To escape, Brenda will have to survive Albert's betrayal, outsmart a creature that collects souls like marrow, and decide what she is willing to become to see daylight again. Perfect for fans of Jeff VanderMeer.
