Traverse

by E.J. Meyers

A forgotten massacre. A patient who believes he's lost in time. A truth more terrifying than nightmares.

Cyrus "Cy" Warren, a postgraduate administrator at Drayman Mental Hospital, has long dismissed his terrifying visions of an alien world as trauma-induced nightmares. But when Wilcox Jennings, a patient claiming to be a 19th-century butler from Bellecliff, a notorious mansion perched ominously at a cliff's edge, arrives vividly describing the same alien realm from Cy's dreams, Cy must question everything he believes.

Now a luxury hotel, Bellecliff was the site of a grisly massacre during the same era Wilcox claims as his own. As Cy is swept deeper into conspiracy and terror, the line between nightmare and reality blurs. Something sinister connects Bellecliff's blood-soaked past to Cy's visions, something unspeakable and fiercely guarded by forces determined to keep it hidden.

Blending horror and science fiction, Traverse is a gripping debut from author E.J. Meyers. It is a chilling exploration of terror beyond imagination.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

398 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2026

About the author

E.J. Meyers is a Rhode Island native whose atmospheric writing blends horror and science fiction, bringing chilling terror to historic Rhode Island locales. Inspired by New England's rich history, distinctive architecture, and hidden mysteries, Meyers reimagines familiar settings through a lens of suspense and dread. He holds a BA in Film Media from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from Providence College.

Often fueled by far too much coffee, Meyers balances his writing with a successful career in product management. In his free time, he enjoys exploring historic sites across New England, listening to good music, watching films, and spending time with family.

Reviews

[Luis Cuesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. "Traverse" is a horror novel that taps into the fear of many unknowns, with satisfaction and slime featuring in equal measure. E. J. Meyers’s thriller follows a reeking yellow mist of unknown provenance that haunts people across periods, assuming familiar, deadly patterns.
"Traverse" opens in 1896, when Newport’s Bellecliff Mansion becomes the site of a gruesome massacre. Its owner, socialite Alexander Bellevue, is found covered in a strange yellowish mucus, a circular wound marking his neck. Amid the chaos, the butler, Wilcox Jennings, vanishes, only to reappear in 2018 at Drayman hospital, where psychiatrists Cyrus Warren and Wendy McCaughey struggle to comprehend his story. Told through shifting perspectives, Meyers blends historical mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural, blurring the boundaries between life and death, past and present.
At its core, "Traverse" is about contamination: physical, moral and temporal. The yellow fog that devours time and bodies becomes a metaphor for corruption that moves through generations, institutions, and even scientific pursuit.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, the timeline skips threw me a little at first (hence why it took me a little bit to get started and then I stayed up late to finish), but once I got used to it... this book was just INCREDIBLE. E. J. Meyers knows how t0 weave an elaborate web that all connects in the end. (Genuinely, once connections started to get revealed, I went back and reread that section to see if I could piece together other parts of the story but had minimal success because this story was told so expertly)
I went to work the day after finishing this and was raving about it to a coworker, now said coworker is borrowing it because he wanted to get his hands on it asap.
Seriously, if you like horror, mysteries, and sci-fi, you NEED to check this one out.
I look forward to reading more works from this author (and I would absolutely read another one set in this universe if that inspiration calls to him!!)

disclaimer: I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway

[Jayson Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book from my local bookstore after the author dropped off a few copies on consignment. What a hell of a ride. Traverse is creepy, cinematic, and much bigger than I expected, part psychological mystery, part cosmic horror, with a thick atmosphere that really sticks with you.

The Bellecliff mansion, the mist, and the unraveling mystery all make the book hard to put down. It’s weird, dark, and ambitious in the best way. Easy recommendation for anyone who likes horror with a sci-fi edge.

[Summer Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got an ARC of this book before it came out and just finished. The dialogue in the book is really some of the best I've read. There is a lot of jumping backwards and forward in time but somehow it flows really naturally, and you find yourself looking forward to when this happens to get more tidbits on all the unfolding mysteries. Super creepy and fun read.