First published 2026
Jerry Campbell moves to Fairview Acres hoping to grieve his wife Abigail in peace. The elderly widower chose this Poconos retirement community for quiet solitude. Instead he finds bizarre neighbors, constant block parties, and mysterious sounds on his roof. Arthur Peterson, the community association chairman, relentlessly pushes Jerry to join neighborhood activities. Jerry tries to ignore the oddities until Katherine Dunnally arrives at his door with a cryptic warning about worms that dance at nightfall. Everyone claims Katherine has Sundowner's Syndrome, a form of dementia. But as weeks pass, Jerry notices the strangeness centers around a massive stone in the community park. He begins to suspect his neighbors are hiding something far worse than eccentric behavior. Keisling crafts a story that examines grief and aging through the lens of creeping dread.
Genres: suspense, mystery, horror, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: creeping-dread, fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Fairview Acres, Poconos
Period: contemporary
400 pages · Paperback · Shortwave
Content warnings: mental-illness