THE SHORE is set in Edgeharber, New Jersey, in the midst of a winter storm that stretches its tentacles far from the sea and into the small town's veins, touching every building and wrapping itself around the inhabitants. Chilling them to the bone cannot match the chill of discovering murdered victims, ripped to shreds by some monster.

No one is talking to the stranger who has arrived in Edgeharber. His identity is a mystery, less revealing than the descriptive prose as the stranger seems to suffer from an impending illness throughout the story from the terrible chill of hiding outside, waiting and waiting for an opportunity to capture a boy; a skinny boy he seems to think is the monster responsible for the deaths.

Kit is a young policewoman who has returned to her home town, a feeling of ineptness dooming her to an insecurity that defines all her actions. She questions the stranger as she tries to work the case, which has been delegated to the state agencies. Kit helps him search for the truth and falls victim to trust as only someone with her insecurities can. He says he loves her and needs her.

As the storm hurdles toward Edgeharber, so does the story move through rich, highly descriptive prose further setting the mood of the story. As the events come closer together, the suspense builds with intensity. I searched the book while writing this review and only found the stranger's name once, although I know Kit used it a few more times. His name is Steve. And I must apologize to the horror genre readers who know Robert Dunbar's work, and to Mr. Dunbar himself, for this review is not the typical review you might expect to see. For this reader, who generally does not take the opportunity to read this genre, I struggled through his very descriptive writing style until the lumps started smoothing out as the story moved toward the climax. And when I finished THE SHORE, I was both grateful for the opportunity to be challenged and felt that chill one gets when left alone in the dark where you hear the noise, the hair raises on your skin, then the cat or the dog crosses your path. You chuckle, shake your head at yourself for your silly behavior, then walk around the corner only to be...and the story ends leaving you waiting for more.