Lurking

Gary Gentile's seminal novel of supernatural horror that was first published as The Lurking Based on actual legend, the story begins when the monster known as the Jersey Devil manifests itself in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey after the accidental exhumation of a human skeleton. Newspaper reporter Elaine Adams happens to be in the area during the gruesome event. She delves into the lore and gore of the creature whose deathless existence is blamed for the subsequent series of abominable fatalities. She uncovers more than she ever bargained for when she learns that people have been disappearing in the Pine Barrens for years - for decades. Helped by her husband and hampered by an obnoxious sheriff, she digs deep into the mysterious deaths and dismemberments that recommence every seven years - a cycle that coincides with the Jersey Devil's regular reappearances. Quickly she is swept into an ageless conspiracy of satanic cultists who not only worship the Jersey Devil, but who feed it by means of human sacrifice in a sensual but brutal ritual in which the victims are impaled on wooden stakes. What Elaine Adams hopes will be the greatest story of her career might instead turn out to be her last. Already one reporter has vanished in the quest to unravel the mystery of the Jersey Devil. Would she be the next?