The Hour Of The Oxrun Dead

Plot

The Hour of the Oxrun Dead was a breakthrough novel for Charles L. Grant. It was the first of many books dealing with Oxrun Station, his invented, cursed locale that is probably only surpassed by Lovecraft’s Arkham and King’s Castle Rock in the minds of horror fans. First appearing in 1977, it helped usher in the golden age of horror fiction in the 1980s. Character-driven and emotionally wrenching, The Hour of the Oxrun Dead’s subtlety stands in sharp contrast to the “gore galore” style that would come to dominate horror fiction. The story follows Natalie Windsor. Nat lives in Oxrun Station, which seems to be in Connecticutt. Oxrun is a very small town where most everyone seems to know everyone. Nat's husband - a police officer - was killed the year before in a horrific murder. Nat has been quietly going about her life, being over-protected by her late husband's brother, the chief of police, and forming a relationship with reporter Marc Clayton, and spending her hours in the library where she works. But a year later, someone else is killed in the same grisly way. And, suddenly, Nat begins to think that she's being stalked. Then her friend is murdered in the same grisly way when she swaps shifts at the library. Marc and Nat begin to get vague threats from the richest family in town,and somehow, someone is trying to keep Mark out of town.