The Woodkin - by Alexander James (Hardcover)

About the Book

Short Summary: A hiker fleeing his marriage is forced off the Pacific Crest Trail and into a small mountain town full of 'missing hiker' posters. On the trail above town, he encounters a mysterious group who call themselves the Woodkin and soon realizes that he may never leave the mountain alive.

Book Synopsis

2024 Audie Award(R) Nominee

2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Medal Winner

2024 IPPY Award Gold Medal Winner

2023 Foreword INDIES Award Bronze Medal Winner

"Alexander James' towering debut [leads] to one destination: absolute terror." --Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

This is adventure horror done right!" --Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Children of Chicago

On the trail, anything can happen.

After secrets and betrayal shatter his marriage, Josh Mallory seeks solace on the Pacific Crest Trail, in the mountains of Washington. On the trail, he's just another hiker. On the trail, he can outrun the memories.

But this backpacking trip swiftly turns grisly when he comes across the body of another hiker who seems to have fallen to his death. Josh is forced to detour through a small mountain town, where missing hiker posters flutter in the windows, and residents show no interest in hearing about the dead hiker. Unease that something is not quite right chases him back to the trail.

But night falls too quickly and in his haste to get away, he becomes trapped on a mountain ridge beneath the light of a full moon. Feeling more and more uneasy, Josh soon realizes that he may not be alone on the mountain, and begins to fear that, like the missing hikers, he won't make it out alive.

For readers who enjoy Paul Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World and Scott Carson's The Chill.

Review Quotes

"The Woodkin by Alexander James is a brutal, nightmarish trip into the heart of darkness that grabs you by the throat on page one and refuses to let go. An unrelenting, unflinching story . . ." --Matthew Lyons, author of A Black and Endless Sky and The Night Will Find Us

"Alexander James understands the point of horror, the point of getting beneath the surface and the skin of the mundane world even if there's gore under there. The Woodkin is fabulously imaginative in just the right ways, a well-woven story that makes it quite clear what you'll find in the woods whether you want to or not." --Margaret Killjoy, author of The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion

"Enter the stark and startling woods in Alexander James' haunting The Woodkin where whispers and shadows are more than you think. You're never really alone on the hiking trail. This is adventure horror done right!" --Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Children of Chicago

"Gruesome, exhilarating, and exceedingly lyrical, Alexander James's debut novel, The Woodkin, is everything horror should be. A troubled protagonist faces demons both figurative and literal, and we readers are compelled to keep flipping pages deep into the darkening night." --Jon Bassoff, author of Beneath Cruel Waters

"Pack your bags and strap on your boots and take a dark adventure through some deep woods folk horror, where the Children of the Corn meet Midsommar. This book will trap you in its cage and leave you begging for rescue--but you're on your own, kid. The only escape from the terror and pain is to travel right through. You may never be found." --Mark Matthews, author of The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

"The serpentine trails that twist and twine throughout Alexander James' towering debut all lead to one destination: absolute terror." --Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

"With its sharp prose and terrifying premise, The Woodkin bites down hard from sentence one and doesn't let go. Alexander James might just be the American Adam Nevill." --Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind

About the Author

Alexander spent most of his childhood in southern Germany, and then went to culinary school in South Louisiana. He's worked as a chef in everything from atrocious mall restaurants to a northern Italian farm-to-fork joint with Michelin dreams. He started writing because he's only got another ten years or so left in his knees. When he's not sweating through a crushing dinner service, he's either drinking Scotch whisky in front of his computer keyboard or backpacking...also with Scotch whisky.