White Line Fever

In this tale of friendship pushed to the very limits, Jones (Black Tide) breathes new life into the classic horror trope of a deserted location with unsettling effects on those who venture into it. After Livia’s shattering discovery of her husband’s infidelity, she gets into a serious car accident. Once she’s discharged from the hospital, she hopes to be distracted from “this wildly unexpected detour [her] life had taken” by a trip to an Oregon resort with her closest friends, Ash, Becka, and Morgan. But it’s a literal detour that lands the quartet in danger. To get to their destination more quickly, they turn onto County Road 951, unaware that it was closed off after 15 people died there. They soon realize their mistake, as Livia and then the others have strange visions of a giant, shadowy figure stalking the car and a bat swooping overhead. These sightings, combined with the complete lack of any wildlife sounds, creep the friends out, and they try desperately to escape what they come to believe is some sort of monster. Jones’s gift for crafting realistic characters and the slow buildup of eerie atmospherics makes suspending disbelief easy. Richard Chizmar fans will be pleased. (Mar.)