Out of the Woods — William D. Carl

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

From Publishers Weekly

"Just before Halloween 1983, a mental hospital in rural Pennsylvania that's about to be shuttered gets one final patient: Gary McCoy, who claims to be the harbinger of an unspeakable horror. Dr. Robert Gaskell sees a chance to make some money writing about McCoy's delusions, but soon his greatest ambition is to stay alive in a horror story that uses familiar tropes to good effect. Using Gaskell's first-person voice to keep the reader close to the terror, Carl (the Werewolf Apocalypse saga) provides vivid descriptions that will make even veteran horror readers wince. Gaskell is imperfect but likable, balancing ambition, love, and his own demons. In this world, everything Lovecraft wrote about is real, and the story builds to a climax with the protagonists trapped between cosmic creatures and insane, deformed humans who worship them. Horror aficionados will thrill to the heartbreaking final moments of this fast-paced novel, which is perfect for a dark and stormy night."
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PRAISE FOR WILLIAM D. CARL

"YOU'RE IN FOR ONE HELLUVA RIDE! Out of the Woods starts with a very disturbed new patient being admitted to St. Michael's Hospital for Mental Illness, just before the facility is about to be closed down for good. He swears the world is about to end -- but it's just the rantings of a madman. Or is it? From there, the story surges forward like a giant serpent, moving at its own breakneck pace, daring us to follow. I loved this book, and William D. Carl is one helluva conductor on this crazy train speeding right to the heart of doomsday!"
-- L.L. Soares, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of LIFE RAGE

"This is a Halloween tale that will rattle you to your core with terror that ratchets up a few notches with each page. Breathlessly paced scare scenes, vividly realized characters, and a skin-crawling sense of dread…Out of the Woods is one hell of a page-turner. William D. Carl has written a future classic of fright literature. "
-- Brad Carter, author of THE BIG MAN OF BARLOW, (DIS)COMFORT FOOD, and ONLY THINGS

"Carl is an amazing storyteller without pretense. His previous books, BESTIAL (2010, Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster) and PRIMEVAL (2011, Permuted Press) brought a new approach to the tired werewolf trope and I suspect readers will discover he's done the same with the asylum sub-genre.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

OUT OF THE WOODS has been described as Ed Lee meets HP Lovecraft via John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13.

A psychiatrist at a closing mental hospital begins treating a young man who comes from a savage village where families have been inbred until a preacher/portal has been created to allow the Old Gods back into our world. On the last night the mental hospital is open, the villagers attack, attempting to get their portal back. Is the man mad or is this the beginning of the apocalypse?