The other

This is a period piece set in a small rural town of the 1930s. While on the surface it may appear as a “bad seed” story about two pre-pubescent teen boys, much like several of Stephen King's novels, it weaves horror with nostalgic memories of what it was like to be young in a final summer before the reality of adulthood intervenes. Horrible things are done, but the reader is left with the impression that something more, perhaps supernatural, has also taken place. It's these sorts of lingering questions that make such stories so memorable.

I've seen reviews that describe this book as a quiet horror and they were right. Throughout I had a sense that something was not quite right, but didn't know what it was. Tryon's description of the area and the characters brings the reader into a very insular world where not everything is as it seems.