Blood River Witch

“Martinson expertly weaves elements of small-town rural suspicion, superstition, heinous crime, drama, and just the right dash of horror to craft a page-turning whodunit that is difficult to set aside once you start flipping those pages … Blood River Witch is a poetic, slow-burning descent into darkness that serves as a reminder that things are rarely as they seem, and the past is always capable of coming back around, and sometimes it’s found a way to sharpen its teeth while it hid. If you like your horror layered and complex, if you like being surprised and putting together pieces of the puzzle and meaning of what’s going on, then Blood River Witch needs to find a place on your TBR list.” —Dave Dreher, Gruesome Magazine

“[W]ell-built … The story is full of satisfying twists and turns.” —Publishers Weekly

“Tense and moody, Blood River Witch is a beautifully written, tightly plotted thriller I couldn’t put down. A smart rural noir full of occult mysteries, family secrets, and truly shocking twists, propelled by the horror of trying to reinvent yourself when the world has already decided who you are, this is T.J. Martinson’s best yet.” —Matt Bell, author of Appleseed

“Blood River Witch is a lyrical, deeply moving experience. T.J. Martinson accomplishes that most rare feat: he’s written a novel that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.” —S. A. Cosby, author of King of Ashes

“A spiral of dark secrets, shattered relationships, and occult-tinged murder, Blood River Witch is everything great about small-town noir. A twisty, haunting drama about the banality of evil, T.J. Martinson’s latest is impossible to put down.” —Matt Serafini, author of Feeders

“Stark, propulsive, and unforgiving, Blood River Witch asks what’s left of identity when the world has already decided what you are—and what kind of myth you can make of yourself when survival is the only law. Set in a town where memory ferments into violence, this is a novel about how the past stains the present and how women pay the price for crimes they didn’t commit but are never allowed to forget. Tense, atmospheric, and ferociously alive, Martinson’s novel proves that the most terrifying forces are not summoned—they’re inherited.” —Ivy Pochoda, author of Ecstasy

T.J. Martinson is the author of The Reign of the Kingfisher (Flatiron, 2019), an extremely well-reviewed debut that merged the genres of superheroes and noir, and Her New Eyes. He is an assistant professor of English at Murray State University, teaching courses in creative writing and literature. He holds a PhD in English from Indiana University and an MA in Literary Studies from Eastern Illinois University.

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