The Girl in the Corn

by Jason Offutt

Overview

Beware of what lurks in the corn.

Fairies don’t exist. At least that’s what Thomas Cavanaugh’s parents say. But the events of that one night, when he follows a fairy into the cornfield on his parents’ farm, prove them wrong. What seems like a destructive explosion was, Thomas knows, an encounter with Dauðr, a force that threatens to destroy the fairy’s world and his sanity.

Years later, after a troubled childhood and a series of dead-end jobs, he is still haunted by what he saw that night. One day he crosses paths with a beautiful young woman and a troubled young man, soon realizing that he first met them as a kid while under psychiatric care after his encounters in the cornfield. Has fate brought them together? Are they meant to join forces to save the fairy’s world and their own? Or is one of them not who they claim to be?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780744304510
Publisher:	CamCat Publishing
Publication date:	01/11/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	3,675
File size:	678 KB

About the Author

Jason Offutt writes books. This is infinitely better than what his father trained him to do, which was to drink beer and shout at the television. He is best known for science fiction, such as his end-of-the-world zombie novel Bad Day for the Apocalypse (a curious work that doesn’t include zombies), his paranormal non-fiction like Chasing American Monsters (that does), and his book of humor How to Kill Monsters Using Common Household Objects. He teaches university journalism, cooks for his family, and wastes much of his writing time trying to keep the cat off his lap. You can find more about Jason at his website, www.jasonoffutt.com. There are no pictures of his cat Gary, and it serves him right.

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2021

Offutt (So You Had to Build a Time Machine) pushes the boundaries of plausibility with this unholy mash-up of creepy, high-body-count paranormal thrills and the trope in which a special kid is chosen to save a magical land, but somehow sticks the landing. A fairy leads young Thomas Cavanaugh into his family’s cornfield for a near-fatal encounter with Dauðr, a dark force that has already sucked the life out of the Norse-flavored fae world and now has its eye on Earth. The resulting nightmares land Thomas in a psychiatric program where he meets Bobby, who beat a boy to death for coming on to him, and Jillian, who killed her rapist stepfather. Years later, Thomas reencounters both Jillian and a still-disturbing adult Bobby—and, from Bobby’s perspective, the reader sees how Dauðr drives him to increasingly unhinged behavior. Meanwhile, Thomas and Jillian’s relationship turns to romance, but her agenda becomes increasingly uncomfortable and cryptic. The parameters of the final battle will be unsatisfying for readers who hoped to see Thomas emerge as a hero and those drawn to the supernatural horror of the premise may find the evil forces somewhat caricatured. Still, Offut generally makes the disparate elements work in a way that will appeal to non-purists. Readers will find themselves well sated before the end. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly