Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
An epistolary novel that tells of Lizzie Borden, a pariah in Fall River, Massachusetts after being acquitted of the double murder of her father and stepmother. Lizzie has secrets. She did kill her father and stepmother but only because they weren’t human anymore. And now the malevolence is spreading and Lizzie is waiting for it with her axe. This is a very good Lovecraftian horror mixed with American folktale. It is told via letters and journals by the wary Lizzie, her annoying sister Emma, Lizzie’s useless lover Nance, the friendly doctor Owen and the mysterious Wolf. Will there be a sequel? I hope so.
Best Lines:
“Something that came from the sea, and ought to have stayed there.”
“This time they cannot blame any strangeness on my sister.”
“They do not know how afraid they ought to be.”
“It looked so very human, until it smiled at me.”
“Woman of dubious moral fiber.”
“The day may come when they realize what we are, and what we do.”