BONEY CREEK is one of those small towns where secrets run deep and danger hides in plain sight. When Addie and her husband Toby buy the local general store, theyβre hoping for a fresh start. But what Addie finds instead is a community haunted by a disturbing pattern of accidental deaths and unexplained disappearances. In Paula Gleasonβs chilling second novel, readers who love eerie small towns, evasive locals, and the looming threat of more mysterious deaths will feel right at home.
After leaving the city in the wake of a violent home robbery, Addie and Toby land in Boney Creek, a town with a population of 217, with seven tragic deaths in just three months, rumors of a decades-old curse traced back to a string of murders and vanishings in the 1970s and 1980s, but Addie isnβt so sure. With help from a sharp young local girl who knows the townβs undercurrents, Addie launches a blog to document whatβs really going on. But stirring up old secrets proves dangerous. The more she digs, the more hostility she faces, and the more danger she puts others in. As her investigative instincts take over, Addie risks her safety, her marriage, and her grip on the truth. Can she uncover whatβs really happening before someone silences her for good?
BONEY CREEK is an atmospheric thriller steeped in dread, where everyone is connected and no tragedy is truly isolated. The story builds slowly, threading a constant hum of unease through each chapter. The identity of the elusive βHighway Reaperβ looms in the background. Will Addie uncover the truth, or will it be another secret buried with the dead (or saved for a second book)? With missing backpackers, suspicious suicides, arson, cryptic notes, trespassing, livestock accidents, and a yellow-eyed cat named Gravy, not to mention questions about family lineage, BONEY CREEK is a haunting tale of secrets, murder, and suspicion. The townspeople are richly drawn, ambiguous, and not easily trusted. And Addie? She has dark secrets of her own. For readers drawn to cursed towns, quiet dread, and complex characters, BONEY CREEK offers a gripping escape into a town you might never want to leave, even if you should.
Boney Creek is a dying town where not a lot happens. The perfect solution for married couple Addie and Toby who are escaping their own personal tragedy. But a quiet and simple life is not exactly possible with so many recent, strange deaths.
Seven locals, all gone too soon. That’s the nature of tragic accidents. And in a town this small, there’s no room for too many questions.
But Addie isn’t so sure. Although she never followed through on her dreams of becoming a journalist, she still has a reporter’s instincts. And her gut—not to mention all the small-town gossip—is telling her that whatever’s happening in Boney Creek is not as random as it seems.
There’s no such thing as coincidence, especially when it comes to seven bodies. And while burying her own secrets, Addie digs up far greater ones that will have her asking if she will be the town’s next so-called accident.
No excerpt available.
© 2003-2026