The Unloved — John Saul

Lush, a deceptively tranquil, the secluded island  basks in splendid isolation off the South Carolina  coast--as does the Devereaux mansion, a once-great  plantation house now crumbling amidst the ancient  oaks. Now, for the first time in two decades,  Kevin Devereaux has returned here with his wife and  children to visit Kevin's hated, and frightening  mother. She said she was ill--but is that really why  the old woman has summoned the son she has not  seen in so many years? Suddenly, horribly, one of  the Devereauxs is going to die. And now, all the  dark secrets of this once-proud family will emerge  to wrap their evil around the unsuspecting  children. Until, in the shadowed corridors and  dust-covered rooms of the decaying old house, they learn the  true terror of The Unloved.