Brighter — V.J. Chambers

Five years ago, when Ramona Brinks was a freshman in college, Garrett Hillard raped a girl.

At least that's what the girl said anyway, and that's why the guys in town got together and introduced Garrett to their fists. They told him in no uncertain terms to leave and stay gone.

Garrett's back in town.

And Ramona finds herself drawn to the social pariah, especially after he tells her that he didn't rape anyone. Instead, he saw the girl get killed. Of course, that's clearly crazy. The girl isn't dead.

But Ramona's been feeling a little crazy herself lately. She had a conversation with her neighbor, only to find out later that while they were chatting, her neighbor's dead body was washing up from a shallow grave....

This is a supernatural horror novel in the tradition of Stephen King, Caitlin R. Kiernan, or Poppy Z. Brite