The Rattler

A decade after Stephen Thorn’s girlfriend, Catherine, was kidnapped in front of him, he has become a passionate victims’-rights advocate and bestselling author. But when he begins hearing Catherine’s voice from the mouths of dead people around him, Thorn embarks on a bloody quest to find her and exact revenge on the people who ruined his dreams. Drawn mostly in black and white occasionally spattered with vivid red blood, this graphic novel benefits from Hinkle’s uniquely twisted character designs and incredibly textured linework, which made his previous work on books such as Airboy so distinctive. His flair for detail makes the already-disturbing subject matter truly repulsive at times. McNamara, whose previous book First Moon won a Xeric Grant, crams the story with twists and turns. What makes this horrific tale especially eerie is its connection to a real-life event that almost befell McNamara himself. Drawing on this chilling inspiration, McNamara hauntingly explores just how easy it is for good people to go bad. (Mar.)