What Remains of Her

Name: What Remains of Her
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780062843319

✍️ Eric Rickstad

Reader Score

4.5

(1 review)

$14.99

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📚 WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT

A professor’s grief fuels a supernatural mystery in Vermont woods.

Rickstad constructs a slow-burn thriller that prioritizes psychological tension over jump scares. The narrative structure moves from the immediate aftermath of the disappearance to a distant future where old wounds reopen. By focusing on Jonah’s unreliable perspective, the text creates ambiguity about the nature of the threat. The relationship between Jonah and Lucinda provides the only tangible link to the past events. The story does not offer easy answers but instead leaves the reader with lingering questions about the validity of memory and the power of guilt.

Key Themes

grief and loss supernatural ambiguity parental secrets

Literary Context

The story is set in Vermont, a region often associated with gothic literature due to its dense forests and isolated communities. The narrative draws on the tradition of American horror that explores the darkness within rural settings. It reflects a period where psychological thriller elements merge with supernatural folklore.

Difficulty

●●● Challenging

Recommended For Fans Of

Shirley Jackson · Stephen King · H.P. Lovecraft · Tana French

🧠

Psychological Horror

🏛 William Morrow & Company 📅 2018 📖 404 pages 🌐 English 📔 Paperback ISBN: 9780062843319

📝 Description: What Remains of Her

Eric Rickstad, a recognized author in the horror genre, presents a chilling narrative centered on Jonah Baum, a poetry professor at a remote Vermont college. His life unravels when his wife Rebecca and daughter Sally vanish without trace. The story relies heavily on Sally’s disturbing drawings and Jonah’s internal monologue of lies to construct its atmosphere of dread. Sheriff suspicions linger that the truth is far darker than simple abduction or abandonment. The plot thickens with the introduction of Lucinda, Sally’s best friend, who guards a secret about what they witnessed in the woods. This shared knowledge binds her to the missing child and fuels the community’s growing unease. As time passes, Jonah retreats into isolation, haunted by grief and paranoia. Twenty-five years later, he encounters a girl in the forest who appears linked to Sally. The narrative forces readers to question whether this figure is real, a hallucination born of desperation, or a supernatural entity. This book suits readers who enjoy psychological horror and gothic mystery with ambiguous endings. It may not appeal to those seeking clear resolutions or fast-paced action. Rickstad uses the setting of Vermont woods to create a claustrophobic environment where reality fractures. The story examines how grief distorts perception and how secrets can fester into something monstrous over decades.

💎 Our verdict on What Remains of Her

“

🩸

Horror Reads editorial team

Horror desk

Rickstad crafts a chilling study of grief, utilizing the Vermont woods as a claustrophobic backdrop for Jonah Baum’s unraveling psyche. The narrative excels in building dread through Sally’s disturbing drawings and Jonah’s internal monologue, creating an atmosphere where truth is perpetually elusive. By withholding clear answers, the text forces readers to confront the validity of memory and the monstrous nature of secrets. This approach suits fans of psychological horror who tolerate ambiguity and slow pacing. While it may frustrate those seeking fast-paced action or definitive resolutions, it rewards patient readers with a haunting exploration of how loss fractures perception and binds communities in shared unease.

✓ EDITOR'S REVIEW

📖 Why choose it

📖

Why this book is worth reading

Readers who appreciate psychological horror and gothic mystery will find deep satisfaction in this narrative, which prioritizes atmospheric tension over conventional plot mechanics. Those interested in exploring the distorting power of grief and the fragility of memory will engage with Jonah’s unreliable perspective. The book appeals to audiences who enjoy ambiguous endings that linger long after the final page, offering a complex examination of guilt and isolation rather than a straightforward thriller. It is ideal for those willing to navigate a slow-burn structure where the true horror lies in the uncertainty of reality versus hallucination.

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Horror Reads —

Reader rating

4.5

Based on 1 reviews

Horror Reads editorial team

Rickstad crafts a chilling study of grief, utilizing the Vermont woods as a claustrophobic backdrop for Jonah Baum’s unraveling psyche. The narrative excels in building dread through Sally’s disturbing drawings and Jonah’s internal monologue, creating an atmosphere where truth is perpetually elusive. By withholding clear answers, the text forces readers to confront the validity of memory and the monstrous nature of secrets. This approach suits fans of psychological horror who tolerate ambiguity and slow pacing. While it may frustrate those seeking fast-paced action or definitive resolutions, it rewards patient readers with a haunting exploration of how loss fractures perception and binds communities in shared unease.