Cruel Winter — Anthony Izzo

Lock the doors. Close the windows. And prepare yourself for the heart-stopping debut of Anthony Izzo, a new master of horror who will chill you to the bone...
Jack Harding and his friends feel sorry for the new kid in town. His name is Ronnie Winter, and he's a bit of a weirdo. So when the local bullies try to beat him up, Jack and his friends step in to protect Ronnie--and that's their first mistake. Because Ronnie Winter is not like any other kid they've ever known. He lives at the old Steadman place, in the big creepy mansion that used to be a mental hospital. And his young, beautiful mother has a strange way of making Jack promise to be Ronnie's friend...forever.

The closer Jack and his friends get to Ronnie, the colder it gets. The town is plunged into a wave of brutal snowstorms--and plagued by a series of gruesome murders. And as the grisly death toll mounts, Jack realizes that Ronnie is surrounded by something far more powerful than a mother's love--he's guarded by a force of unspeakable evil that will torture and destroy everything in its path...