Incarnate — Richard Thomas

In a frozen tundra, a sin-eater fights for redemption and absolution as monstrous creatures ravage a community already struggling to survive.Sebastian Pana is a sin-eater, a shaman-like figure who can absolve the dead of their transgressions before they move on to the afterlife. But when a tear in the fabric of reality allows hideous beasts to invade the small arctic town he calls home, Sebastian must wage battle with them the only way he knows how: by unleashing the power of sin itself.Thus, the stage is set for an epic confrontation between the forces of good and evil, in which a mother monster strives to save the dying land around her—and a young Inuit boy, haunted by Sebastian’s fate, risks everything to forge a new way forward for the desperate vestiges of humanity. As an obliterating darkness descends from the frozen mountains, this profoundly redemptive tale will build toward a climactic showdown in which nature and the supernatural collide with the eternal quest for healing and forgiveness.From an author who has been compared to Lovecraft, Bradbury, and Gaiman, Incarnate is a masterpiece of contemporary arctic horror—a dark, unsettling story told in a maximalist voice inflected with powerful notes of hope and grace.“Thomas excels at summoning nightmarish images, as vivid as they are stark. . . . The most terrifying aspects of the novel, however, stem from its strange, shifting structure, which never quite allows the reader to find firm footing. . . . Fans of Brian Evenson will enjoy—and perhaps cower from—this cold-weather tale.” —Kirkus Reviews