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Не разравяй пръстта
Проклятието спи в постеля от черна земя
1 9 1 9 г.
Малкото и изолирано градче Бунс Фери е връхлетяно от мистериозна болест, която покосява първо конете, а след това и хората. Доктор Томас Ендикот и племенницата му Франки отчаяно търсят обяснение на случващото се, но суеверията изместват науката, а според мнозина куршумът е най-добрият лек. Над всичко тегне мрачната фигура на местния колач, който събира и разфасова труповете на животните и пръв започва да проявява симптомите на непознатата зараза.
2 0 1 6 г.
Две години след загадъчната смърт на майка си Ашли и Малкълм наследяват стара къща в Бунс Фери и решават да посетят дома на своите предци в търсене на отговори. Зад привидното спокойствие и есенния чар на уединеното градче обаче се крият вековни тайни и дълбоко вкоренена враждебност. Местните спазват зловещи традиции, за да умилостивят колача, който идва четири пъти в годината. А ако на сутринта червеният му знак се озове на нечия врата, съдбата на този дом вече е подпечатана с кръв.
„Не разравяй пръстта“ - страховито пътешествие до изолираното градче Бунс Фери през 1919 и 2016 г., където мрачната фигура на местния колач тегне като проклятие над жителите и ги принуждава да се подчиняват на зловещи традиции, за да го умилостивят.
1 9 1 9 г.
Малкото и изолирано градче Бунс Фери е връхлетяно от мистериозна болест, която покосява първо конете, а след това и хората. Доктор Томас Ендикот и племенницата му Франки отчаяно търсят обяснение на случващото се, но суеверията изместват науката, а според мнозина куршумът е най-добрият лек. Над всичко тегне мрачната фигура на местния колач, който събира и разфасова труповете на животните и пръв започва да проявява симптомите на непознатата зараза.
2 0 1 6 г.
Две години след загадъчната смърт на майка си Ашли и Малкълм наследяват стара къща в Бунс Фери и решават да посетят дома на своите предци в търсене на отговори. Зад привидното спокойствие и есенния чар на уединеното градче обаче се крият вековни тайни и дълбоко вкоренена враждебност. Местните спазват зловещи традиции, за да умилостивят колача, който идва четири пъти в годината. А ако на сутринта червеният му знак се озове на нечия врата, съдбата на този дом вече е подпечатана с кръв.
„Не разравяй пръстта“ - страховито пътешествие до изолираното градче Бунс Фери през 1919 и 2016 г., където мрачната фигура на местния колач тегне като проклятие над жителите и ги принуждава да се подчиняват на зловещи традиции, за да го умилостивят.
472 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2026
About the author
Jennifer McMahon
21 books12k followers I'm the author of thirteen novels, including Promise Not to Tell, The Winter People, and my upcoming release, Stay Buried. I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida with my partner, Drea.
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August 16, 2026
I’ve read every single one of Jennifer McMahon’s books, and even though most of them have terrified me to my core, I always end up loving the experience. Her work consistently earns five stars from me, and her latest novel, Stay Buried, immediately secured its spot as one of my favorite reads of 2026. This story exceeded my expectations at every turn. I found myself waltzing between the two timelines—equally captivated by each—and once again fell for McMahon’s peculiar, unforgettable characters who embrace their differences, face tragedy on their own terms, and chase the truth even when doing so might seal their own doom.
The dual timelines are executed flawlessly. The pacing is sharp, each chapter ends with a delicious cliffhanger, and every time the narrative jumped between eras, I was torn—I wanted to keep going in the chapter I was in, yet I was desperate to return to the other timeline. This is McMahon at her very best: delivering twists that slap you in the face, and saving her biggest, wildest reveals for the final pages. Her endings always feel like she’s gleefully pulling the rug out from under you—honestly, I imagine her cackling like Villanelle after typing her last sentence.
The first timeline, set in 1919, follows Frankie O’Massey, assistant to her uncle, Dr. Thomas Endicott, in the eerie little town of Boone’s Ferry. Frankie is intelligent, ambitious, and dreams of becoming a doctor—unfortunately, she was born in the wrong time and the wrong place. Orphaned, queer, wearing men’s clothes, drinking brandy, smoking a pipe, secretly involved with Pearl—the daughter of one of the wealthiest families—Frankie is the ultimate outsider. When a mysterious disease begins killing the town’s horses and later infects the reclusive knackerman, Frankie joins her uncle in trying to treat the sick. But when the knackerman disappears after being declared dead and returns with terrifying, zombie-like aggression—attacking residents, including Pearl’s mother—the town spirals into chaos. Some believe it’s a contagious disease, others insist it’s something far darker: an evil spirit possessing the townspeople one by one.
The second timeline, set in 2016, follows Ashley, who inherits her grandmother’s house in Boone’s Ferry—a place she was forbidden to enter her entire life. Determined to uncover long-buried family secrets and desperate to understand the hallucinations in which she sees her mother’s corpse warning her to “listen,” Ashley ventures back with her brother Mal. Mal, convinced he’s seen this house in visions, believes turning it into a bed-and-breakfast will solve his financial woes. But when they arrive, they encounter chilling town “traditions” like offerings left for the vengeful spirit of the knackerman, fiery-eyed locals with secrets of their own, Mini—the young girl whose family is targeted by the spirit—and Sad Willy, the most recent victim whose life has been shattered. Ashley and Mal quickly realize they’re in far deeper danger than they imagined—and something ancient and hungry is waiting for them.
Overall: Both timelines are tense, atmospheric, and perfectly paced, filled with escalating dread, rhythmic revelations, and twists that hit hard. The eerie final act ties everything together in that signature McMahon way—shocking, haunting, and unforgettable. A five-star, “everyone is the Knackerman” horror masterpiece that you absolutely shouldn’t miss.
A very big thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for sharing this unputdownable horror mystery with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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The dual timelines are executed flawlessly. The pacing is sharp, each chapter ends with a delicious cliffhanger, and every time the narrative jumped between eras, I was torn—I wanted to keep going in the chapter I was in, yet I was desperate to return to the other timeline. This is McMahon at her very best: delivering twists that slap you in the face, and saving her biggest, wildest reveals for the final pages. Her endings always feel like she’s gleefully pulling the rug out from under you—honestly, I imagine her cackling like Villanelle after typing her last sentence.
The first timeline, set in 1919, follows Frankie O’Massey, assistant to her uncle, Dr. Thomas Endicott, in the eerie little town of Boone’s Ferry. Frankie is intelligent, ambitious, and dreams of becoming a doctor—unfortunately, she was born in the wrong time and the wrong place. Orphaned, queer, wearing men’s clothes, drinking brandy, smoking a pipe, secretly involved with Pearl—the daughter of one of the wealthiest families—Frankie is the ultimate outsider. When a mysterious disease begins killing the town’s horses and later infects the reclusive knackerman, Frankie joins her uncle in trying to treat the sick. But when the knackerman disappears after being declared dead and returns with terrifying, zombie-like aggression—attacking residents, including Pearl’s mother—the town spirals into chaos. Some believe it’s a contagious disease, others insist it’s something far darker: an evil spirit possessing the townspeople one by one.
The second timeline, set in 2016, follows Ashley, who inherits her grandmother’s house in Boone’s Ferry—a place she was forbidden to enter her entire life. Determined to uncover long-buried family secrets and desperate to understand the hallucinations in which she sees her mother’s corpse warning her to “listen,” Ashley ventures back with her brother Mal. Mal, convinced he’s seen this house in visions, believes turning it into a bed-and-breakfast will solve his financial woes. But when they arrive, they encounter chilling town “traditions” like offerings left for the vengeful spirit of the knackerman, fiery-eyed locals with secrets of their own, Mini—the young girl whose family is targeted by the spirit—and Sad Willy, the most recent victim whose life has been shattered. Ashley and Mal quickly realize they’re in far deeper danger than they imagined—and something ancient and hungry is waiting for them.
Overall: Both timelines are tense, atmospheric, and perfectly paced, filled with escalating dread, rhythmic revelations, and twists that hit hard. The eerie final act ties everything together in that signature McMahon way—shocking, haunting, and unforgettable. A five-star, “everyone is the Knackerman” horror masterpiece that you absolutely shouldn’t miss.
A very big thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for sharing this unputdownable horror mystery with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
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August 10, 2026
🔥 Pub Week Review 🔥
Pub Date - 8/11
Tomorrow
I’m quite proud to admit that I ran up to Barnes & Noble last Thursday to get one of my most anticipated books of the year. Only one was on the shelf… which was a sign from God right? He wanted me to have it! 😆
First, this is a slow burn character driven novel. Fantastic folklore. It’s told from two timelines, 1919 and 2016. If you enjoy historical fiction or historical horror, and a slow burn done right, read this book.
1919 Vermont, people are mysteriously getting ill and dying. The town doctor and his niece are trying to find out if it’s the flu or something supernatural. Is it the Devil himself?
2016, siblings Ashley and Malcom head to that same town. Their mother disappeared from that same town two years ago. Was it suicide or murder? They want answers.
This story was holding me hostage. I loved how the two timelines connected. I was incredibly drawn to the two female characters in 1919. These were strong women, hiding their love for one another. Back then, it would be a death sentence.
The last third of the novel was so suspenseful. It even gets a bit unhinged which was perfectly done. The book actually reminded me of an older movie…. So if you’ve read this, reach out if you know which one. But don’t say it here. No spoilers.
Stay Buried is an original historical horror tale and I highly recommend it. Loved it and it’s out tomorrow.
5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date - 8/11
Tomorrow
I’m quite proud to admit that I ran up to Barnes & Noble last Thursday to get one of my most anticipated books of the year. Only one was on the shelf… which was a sign from God right? He wanted me to have it! 😆
First, this is a slow burn character driven novel. Fantastic folklore. It’s told from two timelines, 1919 and 2016. If you enjoy historical fiction or historical horror, and a slow burn done right, read this book.
1919 Vermont, people are mysteriously getting ill and dying. The town doctor and his niece are trying to find out if it’s the flu or something supernatural. Is it the Devil himself?
2016, siblings Ashley and Malcom head to that same town. Their mother disappeared from that same town two years ago. Was it suicide or murder? They want answers.
This story was holding me hostage. I loved how the two timelines connected. I was incredibly drawn to the two female characters in 1919. These were strong women, hiding their love for one another. Back then, it would be a death sentence.
The last third of the novel was so suspenseful. It even gets a bit unhinged which was perfectly done. The book actually reminded me of an older movie…. So if you’ve read this, reach out if you know which one. But don’t say it here. No spoilers.
Stay Buried is an original historical horror tale and I highly recommend it. Loved it and it’s out tomorrow.
5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August 12, 2026
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.
4.25/4.5 stars rounded up ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Happy Publication Day! This might be Jennifer McMahon’s best book yet.
Stay Buried gives us all the sketchy New England vibes that I love, a lovely queer relationship, and buckets of creepy and weird folklore.
The book is set during two different decades and has multiple points of view. Usually this can be a lot to keep up with, but McMahon gets it right in my opinion.
Back in 1919, Boone’s Ferry, Vermont is like most communities in the area. A bit isolated, everyone knows everyone, wary of strangers, and the science of medicine isn’t quite accepted.
Wait? Did I write 2026 or 1919?
Anyhoo, it’s 1919 and Frankie O’Massey lives in Boone’s Ferry. She’s learning medicine from her uncle, Dr. Thomas Endicott. She’s always felt like an outsider because for one, she's an orphan, and two, she's queer. She was an easy character to love in this book, and you felt for her. She was born during the wrong time and place.
When a mysterious disease hits Boone’s Ferry and it looks to have started with the town’s knackerman, the reader gets to see how a community really acts when things go south.
Damn, I do love when New England goes full on weird.
Folklore and horror in this type of setting is just so good. The unease and tension that keeps building gets under your skin and you can’t look away.
McMahon not only gives the reader all of this and more but shows us that humans tend to be scarier than the monsters prowling at night.
The second timeline is 2016 and Ashley is struggling to get over the death of her mother. She’s not sure where to go in her life and career, and her brother Malcolm and their grandmother are worried about her.
When their grandmother dies, Ashley and Malcolm find out that the family is from Boone’s Ferry, and their grandmother owns property there.
They make a trip to upstate Vermont and I’m sure that’s a great decision, right?!
Stay Buried has characters to love, great writing and pacing, and all the folk weirdness that I love and also dread. I liked reading the afterword by McMahan, so don't skip on that.
Definitely get to this one if you're a fan of her books or love folk horror. It was fun one to read!
4.25/4.5 stars rounded up ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Happy Publication Day! This might be Jennifer McMahon’s best book yet.
Stay Buried gives us all the sketchy New England vibes that I love, a lovely queer relationship, and buckets of creepy and weird folklore.
The book is set during two different decades and has multiple points of view. Usually this can be a lot to keep up with, but McMahon gets it right in my opinion.
Back in 1919, Boone’s Ferry, Vermont is like most communities in the area. A bit isolated, everyone knows everyone, wary of strangers, and the science of medicine isn’t quite accepted.
Wait? Did I write 2026 or 1919?
Anyhoo, it’s 1919 and Frankie O’Massey lives in Boone’s Ferry. She’s learning medicine from her uncle, Dr. Thomas Endicott. She’s always felt like an outsider because for one, she's an orphan, and two, she's queer. She was an easy character to love in this book, and you felt for her. She was born during the wrong time and place.
When a mysterious disease hits Boone’s Ferry and it looks to have started with the town’s knackerman, the reader gets to see how a community really acts when things go south.
Damn, I do love when New England goes full on weird.
Folklore and horror in this type of setting is just so good. The unease and tension that keeps building gets under your skin and you can’t look away.
McMahon not only gives the reader all of this and more but shows us that humans tend to be scarier than the monsters prowling at night.
The second timeline is 2016 and Ashley is struggling to get over the death of her mother. She’s not sure where to go in her life and career, and her brother Malcolm and their grandmother are worried about her.
When their grandmother dies, Ashley and Malcolm find out that the family is from Boone’s Ferry, and their grandmother owns property there.
They make a trip to upstate Vermont and I’m sure that’s a great decision, right?!
Stay Buried has characters to love, great writing and pacing, and all the folk weirdness that I love and also dread. I liked reading the afterword by McMahan, so don't skip on that.
Definitely get to this one if you're a fan of her books or love folk horror. It was fun one to read!
November 27, 2025
ARC for review. To be published August 11, 2026.
4 stars
Sister and brother Ashley and Malcolm have just lost their grandmother, with whom they lived. They also learned that she owned property in the small town of Boone Ferry, where her family was from but that she refused to visit or discuss. This was also the same place their mother was last seen before she disappeared two years ago. Now Ashley and Malcolm decide to visit the town to check out their property and to look for clues about their mom’s disappearance, but the townspeople aren’t very happy to see them.
Back in 1919 Frankie O’Massey is an orphan, a woman who prefers to dress as a man. She’s been taken in by her aunt and uncle, the town doctor, who relies on Frankie to work as his assistant. A horrible illness has come to town, first striking the horses, then the people. The anyone survive or escape?
I was unsure about this but it was enjoyable and well done, especially the scenes set in 1919. Very dark, but I was impressed with this folk horror.
4 stars
Sister and brother Ashley and Malcolm have just lost their grandmother, with whom they lived. They also learned that she owned property in the small town of Boone Ferry, where her family was from but that she refused to visit or discuss. This was also the same place their mother was last seen before she disappeared two years ago. Now Ashley and Malcolm decide to visit the town to check out their property and to look for clues about their mom’s disappearance, but the townspeople aren’t very happy to see them.
Back in 1919 Frankie O’Massey is an orphan, a woman who prefers to dress as a man. She’s been taken in by her aunt and uncle, the town doctor, who relies on Frankie to work as his assistant. A horrible illness has come to town, first striking the horses, then the people. The anyone survive or escape?
I was unsure about this but it was enjoyable and well done, especially the scenes set in 1919. Very dark, but I was impressed with this folk horror.
July 25, 2026
Jennifer McMahon is one of the few authors that I’ll drop whatever I’m doing to read her newest works. So needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled to start her upcoming release, Stay Buried.
High on the creepiness scale with a strong sense of foreboding and dread, Jennifer has once again perfectly blended historical fiction with horror to craft another mind blowing tale. The alternating timelines were flawless and even though I enjoyed both, reading from Frankie's perspective was my favorite.
Atmospheric with an earth shattering ending, Stay Buried solidified my love for Jennifer's writing. Stay Buried is my 8th read by Jennifer and of course I'll continue to read everything else she writes!
I listened to the audiobook version which is read by Cassandra Campbell, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, and Jennifer Pickens who all did a brilliant job bringing Stay Buried to life (pun intended😆). If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format!
Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon will be available on August 11. Many thanks to Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook!
High on the creepiness scale with a strong sense of foreboding and dread, Jennifer has once again perfectly blended historical fiction with horror to craft another mind blowing tale. The alternating timelines were flawless and even though I enjoyed both, reading from Frankie's perspective was my favorite.
Atmospheric with an earth shattering ending, Stay Buried solidified my love for Jennifer's writing. Stay Buried is my 8th read by Jennifer and of course I'll continue to read everything else she writes!
I listened to the audiobook version which is read by Cassandra Campbell, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, and Jennifer Pickens who all did a brilliant job bringing Stay Buried to life (pun intended😆). If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format!
Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon will be available on August 11. Many thanks to Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook!
August 17, 2026
Outlier Alert❗️
This had absolutely everything that I typically look for in a book: Creepy small town, lots of folklore, dual timelines, and multiple POVs. Not to mention it’s written by one of my most favorite authors, and the cover art is perfect.
So where did this go wrong? Let’s find out…
Early on, I was having a hard time staying engaged. I think it stemmed from the multiple POVs and timelines along with the slower pace. It’s a tricky combo. Finally, around the 46% mark, things really started moving from a pace perspective. I finally found myself where I had wanted to be from page one… fully locked in. The atmosphere was creepy, things were happening that had me wanting to know more. It was looking good! We’re nearing the end, and I’m feeling everything coming together! Excitement is mounting! I flip the page….and find …the acknowledgments. But wait! I still have questions! Sigh…
This is 100% an outlier opinion. I still love this author, and there are pieces of this book I really liked. A three-star read is not bad. It just was lacking that oomph I was expecting.
This had absolutely everything that I typically look for in a book: Creepy small town, lots of folklore, dual timelines, and multiple POVs. Not to mention it’s written by one of my most favorite authors, and the cover art is perfect.
So where did this go wrong? Let’s find out…
Early on, I was having a hard time staying engaged. I think it stemmed from the multiple POVs and timelines along with the slower pace. It’s a tricky combo. Finally, around the 46% mark, things really started moving from a pace perspective. I finally found myself where I had wanted to be from page one… fully locked in. The atmosphere was creepy, things were happening that had me wanting to know more. It was looking good! We’re nearing the end, and I’m feeling everything coming together! Excitement is mounting! I flip the page….and find …the acknowledgments. But wait! I still have questions! Sigh…
This is 100% an outlier opinion. I still love this author, and there are pieces of this book I really liked. A three-star read is not bad. It just was lacking that oomph I was expecting.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Review in the June 2026 issue of Library Journal.
Issue will also feature an interview with the author here: https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/...
4-4.5
Three Words The Describe This Book: dual time frame, folk horror, terrifying
Draft Review: Folk horror and authentic characters work in tandem to infect readers in McMahon’s latest. Set in isolated Boone’s Ferry, VT, in two time periods, readers follow Frankie, in 1919, training with her uncle to be a doctor, and Ashley, in 2016, struggling to figure out what happened to her mother when she did not return from a visit to the Vermont town. After their grandmother dies under strange circumstances, Ash and her brother travel to Booke’s Ferry to see the home they have inherited. However, readers know, from the start, that things are not going to go well in either time frame because Frankie is describing a strange rabies like disease that leapt from the town’s horses, to the knackerman (one who collects dying farm animals, dismembering them for further use), to nearly every resident. A century later, the knackerman is still terrorizing the townsfolk. McMahon’s original, well paced, twisted, and terrifying tale breaks free from its supernatural origins to become a horror that is all too real, proclaiming that “we’re all the knackerman.”
Verdict: With shades of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” this story will stay buried in reader’s minds long after they turn the final page. An especially good choice for fans of The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James and Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.
Centered around the knackerman-- defined at the start of the book for everyone which is not only helpful but it sets the ominous tone-- "knackerman (noun): a person who collects dead or dying farm animals unfit for human consumption and dismembers them for further use, e.g., tanning the hides and rendering fat, tallow, and glue."
Two time frames-- one creepy town. Boone's Ferry, VT. Literally at the end of the road. 2 time frames. The first is told by Frankie, in 1919, a young woman who wants to be a doctor. She works with her uncle in the small town taking care of everything. The town also still relies on the midwife/herbalist but they have respect. Even after the 1918 flue wiped a lot of people out.
2016-- Ashley (Ash) is the main narrator here. They mom disappeared a few years ago after visiting Boone's Ferry. Presumed suicide. Now their grandmother, who was against their mom going to VT and appears to be hiding a lot of family secrets, has just died. Ash and Malcom (Mal) her brother head to Boone's Ferry to find answers.
But readers know things are not going to go well in either time frame. We know that in 1919 something happened (maybe another flu) that killed most of the towns folk. But as we follow Frankie, we see it is not a flu. Rather it is a stranger disease that begins with the horses, spreads to the knackerman and then goes through the whole town. It is like a strange variant of rabies. The disease-- you get very sick and start acting strange. Then you die. A few hours later, you rise from the dead, and fight your way outside-- biting people to get free and transferring the disease.
Readers know this is what Ash and Mal are walking into-- except in 2016 readers also know that the knackerman still haunts the town, coming 4x a year, and if not appeased with treats and gifts, he marks your door and then terrible things happen to the person who is marked. (2 current residents narrated some chapters).
The characters are well done. The voices authentic. The chapters just the right length and each ends with enough of a cliff hanger to keep you going for just one more, but also, it is not so much so that you feel okay to put it down and are still eager to come back.
This is a twisted, dark, and terrifying story. It is about supernatural horrors but also the horrors humans do to each other and themselves. It is folk horror that breaks free from its mythology and becomes all too real.
We're all the knackerman-- a moral and a warning
It is also a great pandemic--infection novel. There is some great social commentary about the choices women do and do not have both in choices for careers and life partners. It is also about family. The connections between family across the generations, family secrets
More than a nod to "The Lottery," set in VT, town "protecting" itself and its macabre traditions, an important horse is named Shirley. It's like The Sun Down Motel by Simone St.James mixed with the intensity of Hex by Thomas Olde Huevelt.
Issue will also feature an interview with the author here: https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/...
4-4.5
Three Words The Describe This Book: dual time frame, folk horror, terrifying
Draft Review: Folk horror and authentic characters work in tandem to infect readers in McMahon’s latest. Set in isolated Boone’s Ferry, VT, in two time periods, readers follow Frankie, in 1919, training with her uncle to be a doctor, and Ashley, in 2016, struggling to figure out what happened to her mother when she did not return from a visit to the Vermont town. After their grandmother dies under strange circumstances, Ash and her brother travel to Booke’s Ferry to see the home they have inherited. However, readers know, from the start, that things are not going to go well in either time frame because Frankie is describing a strange rabies like disease that leapt from the town’s horses, to the knackerman (one who collects dying farm animals, dismembering them for further use), to nearly every resident. A century later, the knackerman is still terrorizing the townsfolk. McMahon’s original, well paced, twisted, and terrifying tale breaks free from its supernatural origins to become a horror that is all too real, proclaiming that “we’re all the knackerman.”
Verdict: With shades of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” this story will stay buried in reader’s minds long after they turn the final page. An especially good choice for fans of The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James and Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.
Centered around the knackerman-- defined at the start of the book for everyone which is not only helpful but it sets the ominous tone-- "knackerman (noun): a person who collects dead or dying farm animals unfit for human consumption and dismembers them for further use, e.g., tanning the hides and rendering fat, tallow, and glue."
Two time frames-- one creepy town. Boone's Ferry, VT. Literally at the end of the road. 2 time frames. The first is told by Frankie, in 1919, a young woman who wants to be a doctor. She works with her uncle in the small town taking care of everything. The town also still relies on the midwife/herbalist but they have respect. Even after the 1918 flue wiped a lot of people out.
2016-- Ashley (Ash) is the main narrator here. They mom disappeared a few years ago after visiting Boone's Ferry. Presumed suicide. Now their grandmother, who was against their mom going to VT and appears to be hiding a lot of family secrets, has just died. Ash and Malcom (Mal) her brother head to Boone's Ferry to find answers.
But readers know things are not going to go well in either time frame. We know that in 1919 something happened (maybe another flu) that killed most of the towns folk. But as we follow Frankie, we see it is not a flu. Rather it is a stranger disease that begins with the horses, spreads to the knackerman and then goes through the whole town. It is like a strange variant of rabies. The disease-- you get very sick and start acting strange. Then you die. A few hours later, you rise from the dead, and fight your way outside-- biting people to get free and transferring the disease.
Readers know this is what Ash and Mal are walking into-- except in 2016 readers also know that the knackerman still haunts the town, coming 4x a year, and if not appeased with treats and gifts, he marks your door and then terrible things happen to the person who is marked. (2 current residents narrated some chapters).
The characters are well done. The voices authentic. The chapters just the right length and each ends with enough of a cliff hanger to keep you going for just one more, but also, it is not so much so that you feel okay to put it down and are still eager to come back.
This is a twisted, dark, and terrifying story. It is about supernatural horrors but also the horrors humans do to each other and themselves. It is folk horror that breaks free from its mythology and becomes all too real.
We're all the knackerman-- a moral and a warning
It is also a great pandemic--infection novel. There is some great social commentary about the choices women do and do not have both in choices for careers and life partners. It is also about family. The connections between family across the generations, family secrets
More than a nod to "The Lottery," set in VT, town "protecting" itself and its macabre traditions, an important horse is named Shirley. It's like The Sun Down Motel by Simone St.James mixed with the intensity of Hex by Thomas Olde Huevelt.
August 12, 2026
4.5 stars. Nothing good ever comes from a town with a century-old curse, creepy burial folklore + locals who REALLY don’t want you asking questions. 😬🌲🪦 Stay Buried had that unsettling Jennifer McMahon vibe from the very beginning, and I couldn’t wait to figure out what Boone’s Ferry, Vermont had been hiding all these years. 👀🕯️The story jumps between 1919 and 2016, with both timelines slowly uncovering the secrets buried in this town’s past. ⏳
In 1919, Frankie O’Massey is learning medicine from her uncle when a mysterious illness begins spreading through the community. Then the town’s knackerman—an unsettling character who collects sick and dying animals—gets the illness and returns after being buried, sending everyone straight toward superstition, fear + talk of a curse. 🐴🫣🔥
Fast-forward to 2016, when siblings Ashley + Malcolm inherit a house in Boone’s Ferry after their grandmother passes. Their mother disappeared there two years earlier, leaving behind a letter saying she “knew everything,” so naturally Ashley is determined to figure out exactly what happened to her. But the locals definitely do NOT want them digging into the past, and their creepy rituals + offerings to a vengeful spirit make it pretty clear this town has been keeping some BIG secrets. 👀🕯️🌲
This was classic Jennifer McMahon for me—eerie, atmospheric, unsettling + just supernatural enough to keep me wondering what was real and what was folklore. I loved watching the two timelines slowly connect and learning how fear, illness, family secrets + an old legend became tangled together over generations. The whole Knackerman storyline was wonderfully creepy. 😬🐴🪦 A little slower in places, but once everything started coming together, I was completely invested. Definitely one for folk-horror + creepy-small-town readers—and if you’re new to Jennifer McMahon, this is a great one to get a feel for her writing style. Pub. 8/11/26
I received my copy from the publisher Gallery Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In 1919, Frankie O’Massey is learning medicine from her uncle when a mysterious illness begins spreading through the community. Then the town’s knackerman—an unsettling character who collects sick and dying animals—gets the illness and returns after being buried, sending everyone straight toward superstition, fear + talk of a curse. 🐴🫣🔥
Fast-forward to 2016, when siblings Ashley + Malcolm inherit a house in Boone’s Ferry after their grandmother passes. Their mother disappeared there two years earlier, leaving behind a letter saying she “knew everything,” so naturally Ashley is determined to figure out exactly what happened to her. But the locals definitely do NOT want them digging into the past, and their creepy rituals + offerings to a vengeful spirit make it pretty clear this town has been keeping some BIG secrets. 👀🕯️🌲
This was classic Jennifer McMahon for me—eerie, atmospheric, unsettling + just supernatural enough to keep me wondering what was real and what was folklore. I loved watching the two timelines slowly connect and learning how fear, illness, family secrets + an old legend became tangled together over generations. The whole Knackerman storyline was wonderfully creepy. 😬🐴🪦 A little slower in places, but once everything started coming together, I was completely invested. Definitely one for folk-horror + creepy-small-town readers—and if you’re new to Jennifer McMahon, this is a great one to get a feel for her writing style. Pub. 8/11/26
I received my copy from the publisher Gallery Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Want to Read
November 10, 2025oooooooooooooooooooh!!! HUGE fan of this author!!
I can't wait to read this one!! AUGUST 2026 LET'S GO!!!
I can't wait to read this one!! AUGUST 2026 LET'S GO!!!
August 16, 2026
I believe I’ve read one other book by McMahon, and I’m well aware that her books are super creepy. I’ve seen other books of hers but passed on them if they seemed too scary. “Stay Buried” is the first one I have seen in a little while that I thought I could handle. And I was right! That’s not to say that this isn’t scary—because it most certainly is. Body horror and gore abound. If you’re squeamish about blood or the examination of very ill patients, you should steer clear.
This is another dual time period novel, and we switch back and forth between 1919 and 2016 in Vermont. The earlier period begins with a strange illness afflicting every horse in Boone’s Ferry, a place cut off from the rest of the state. In a small town, sickness spreads quickly, and the Spanish flu has finally run its course a few months before the story begins.
In 2016, Ashley and her brother Malcolm have just lost their grandmother, who never lived in Boone’s Ferry and yet seems to harbor a great fear about going there. Ashley’s mother disappeared two years ago, and Ash has never believed that her mom committed suicide. When the siblings inherit a house in Boone’s Ferry, of course they’re going to go check it out. What could possibly go wrong?
What *was* that illness in 1919, really? Was it truly eradicated?
Why do the townspeople leave gifts on their doorsteps four times a year…and cover the windows and lock themselves inside their homes until the next day?
I encourage you to find out! Fair warning—I could only read this when someone was in the room with me. YMMV.
(PS: This has a well-thought-out, wonderful portrayal of a person with gender dysphoria who is most likely trans. I truly appreciate that McMahon wrote such a great character with tremendous empathy. In a perfect world, two characters from this story would live long, happy lives together, and I dream of such a world. Thank you, Jennifer!)
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
This is another dual time period novel, and we switch back and forth between 1919 and 2016 in Vermont. The earlier period begins with a strange illness afflicting every horse in Boone’s Ferry, a place cut off from the rest of the state. In a small town, sickness spreads quickly, and the Spanish flu has finally run its course a few months before the story begins.
In 2016, Ashley and her brother Malcolm have just lost their grandmother, who never lived in Boone’s Ferry and yet seems to harbor a great fear about going there. Ashley’s mother disappeared two years ago, and Ash has never believed that her mom committed suicide. When the siblings inherit a house in Boone’s Ferry, of course they’re going to go check it out. What could possibly go wrong?
What *was* that illness in 1919, really? Was it truly eradicated?
Why do the townspeople leave gifts on their doorsteps four times a year…and cover the windows and lock themselves inside their homes until the next day?
I encourage you to find out! Fair warning—I could only read this when someone was in the room with me. YMMV.
(PS: This has a well-thought-out, wonderful portrayal of a person with gender dysphoria who is most likely trans. I truly appreciate that McMahon wrote such a great character with tremendous empathy. In a perfect world, two characters from this story would live long, happy lives together, and I dream of such a world. Thank you, Jennifer!)
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
Read
August 5, 2026През 1919 г. в малкото градче Бунс Фери странна смъртоносна болест покосява и конете, и хората. Доктор Томас Единкот и племенницата му Франки отчаяно се опитват да разберат какво се случва, но суеверията изместват науката и мнозина смятат, че причината за всичко случващо се е местният колач, който първи се заразява с ужасната болест.
2016 г., Ашли и Малкъм наследяват къща в Бунс Фери без изобщо да знаят за съществуването и. Братът и сестрата се отправят към изолираното градче, за да се оправят с наследството си, но местните ги посрещат враждебно. Бързо става ясно, че в това отдалечено място се спазват вековни зловещи традиции, които целят да омилостивят колачът, който идва четири пъти в годината. А ако знакът му се появи на нечия врата, съдбата на този дом вече е подпечатана с кръв...
Дженифър Макмеън отново предлага на читателите един зловещ трилър с елементи на мистерия и паранормално. Историята се разказва в две времеви линии и от две главни героини - Франки разказва за събитията от 1919 г., а Ашли - за историята от настоящето. Двете истори са наситени с напрежение, мистерия и много свръхестествени елементи се преплитат чудесно, за да разкрият какво всъщност стои зад мистериозния колач и кой в действителност е той.
Лично на мен историята от миналото ми допадна повече и беше доста по-интересна. Не ми допадна образът на Франки, както и на нейната любима (за мен връзката им беше напълно излишна и ненужна за сюжета, но нали трябва да сме модерни).
Сюжетът е доста добре измислен и отдавна не бях чела подобен, а героите също са интригуващи. Макмеън пише доста приятно, главите в романа са сравнително кратки и се четат бързо, но най-много ми хреса финалът на книгата. Много читатели сравняват Дженифър Макмеън със Симон Сейнт Джеймс, но първата дава някакви логични обяснения за свръхестествените неща, случващи се в романа, докато Джеймс по-скоро оставя въпросите на тази тематика без отговори. Епилогът на "Не разравяй пръстта" е просто перфектен завършек на всичко, което се случи на героите.
За мен това е най-добрата книга на авторката до момента. Чела съм всички нейни, издадени на български език, но тази сякаш е най-добре изпипана спрямо сюжет и развитие на действие, както и по отношение на финала. Ако сте почитатели на Макмеън, задължително трябва да прочетете и тази нейна книга.
2016 г., Ашли и Малкъм наследяват къща в Бунс Фери без изобщо да знаят за съществуването и. Братът и сестрата се отправят към изолираното градче, за да се оправят с наследството си, но местните ги посрещат враждебно. Бързо става ясно, че в това отдалечено място се спазват вековни зловещи традиции, които целят да омилостивят колачът, който идва четири пъти в годината. А ако знакът му се появи на нечия врата, съдбата на този дом вече е подпечатана с кръв...
Дженифър Макмеън отново предлага на читателите един зловещ трилър с елементи на мистерия и паранормално. Историята се разказва в две времеви линии и от две главни героини - Франки разказва за събитията от 1919 г., а Ашли - за историята от настоящето. Двете истори са наситени с напрежение, мистерия и много свръхестествени елементи се преплитат чудесно, за да разкрият какво всъщност стои зад мистериозния колач и кой в действителност е той.
Лично на мен историята от миналото ми допадна повече и беше доста по-интересна. Не ми допадна образът на Франки, както и на нейната любима (за мен връзката им беше напълно излишна и ненужна за сюжета, но нали трябва да сме модерни).
Сюжетът е доста добре измислен и отдавна не бях чела подобен, а героите също са интригуващи. Макмеън пише доста приятно, главите в романа са сравнително кратки и се четат бързо, но най-много ми хреса финалът на книгата. Много читатели сравняват Дженифър Макмеън със Симон Сейнт Джеймс, но първата дава някакви логични обяснения за свръхестествените неща, случващи се в романа, докато Джеймс по-скоро оставя въпросите на тази тематика без отговори. Епилогът на "Не разравяй пръстта" е просто перфектен завършек на всичко, което се случи на героите.
За мен това е най-добрата книга на авторката до момента. Чела съм всички нейни, издадени на български език, но тази сякаш е най-добре изпипана спрямо сюжет и развитие на действие, както и по отношение на финала. Ако сте почитатели на Макмеън, задължително трябва да прочетете и тази нейна книга.
August 16, 2026
Брутална е тази Дженифър Макмеън!
August 11, 2026
„Не разравяй пръстта“ – заглавието, с което Дженифър Макмеън ще постигне своя авторски пик
Усещам, че този роман ще се превърне в тотален хит. Всичко най-добро от запазените марки на Дженифър Макмеън е събрано тук, за да донесе на читателите перфектното усещане за съспенс, мрачна атмосфера и смразяващо кръвта напрежение.
Действието ни пренася в малко, изолирано населено място във Върмонт с мрачно минало, където тайните трябва да останат дълбоко погребани. Мистериозни болести, древни проклятия и много смърт: това са само част от елементите, които Макмеън предоставя на вниманието ни със своя характерен почерк.
Макмеън улавя читателя още от първата глава и не му оставя възможност да си поеме дъх. Абсолютно всяка една глава бях на ръба на стола в очакване на следващата развръзка. Изключително лесно е да се потопиш в атмосферата благодарение на двойната времева линия и множеството перспективи, които правят разказа изключително жив и непрекъснато поддържат темпото. Преходът между епохите е толкова балансиран, че за мен бе невъзможно да избера коя времева линия ми е по-интересна — с еднакъв трепет чаках да разбера какво се случва и в двете.
Въпреки присъствието на свръхестествени и фолклорни елементи, авторката е открила перфектния баланс между реалност и фантазия. Това придава на историята плашещо автентичен привкус. Личи си, че Макмеън е надградила стила си и е претърпяла сериозно авторско развитие.
Що се отнася до самия сюжет, не мога да открия нещо, което да му липсва. Той е изпълнен с множество тайни, обрати и неудобни въпроси. Взаимоотношенията между героите са живи, човешки и автентични. Дори романтичната нишка (изненадващо за трилър) се усеща като естествени допълнение, придаващо допълнителна плътност и живот на историята.
В основата на динамиката на трилъра е заложен и изключително дълбок психологически пласт. Силно ме впечатли начинът, по който са засегнати темите за предразсъдъците, колективната травма и механизма, по който културата, традициите и суеверията се предават поколение след поколение.
Историята ме накара за пореден път да осъзная колко витално значение има това да поставяме под въпрос всеобщите „истини“ и да търсим собствения си път — откривайки онзи фин баланс между уважението към традицията, съхраняването на собствената личност и модерните изисквания на средата ни.
Имах възможността да прочета книгата благодарение на предварително копие, подарък от прекрасните @benitorialbooks и мога с чиста съвест да кажа, че тя напълно оправда очакванията ми. „Не разравяй пръстта“ е брутален и атмосферно наситен трилър, който ще ви държи будни до късно (поне на мен осигури няколко безсънни нощи).
Усещам, че този роман ще се превърне в тотален хит. Всичко най-добро от запазените марки на Дженифър Макмеън е събрано тук, за да донесе на читателите перфектното усещане за съспенс, мрачна атмосфера и смразяващо кръвта напрежение.
Действието ни пренася в малко, изолирано населено място във Върмонт с мрачно минало, където тайните трябва да останат дълбоко погребани. Мистериозни болести, древни проклятия и много смърт: това са само част от елементите, които Макмеън предоставя на вниманието ни със своя характерен почерк.
Макмеън улавя читателя още от първата глава и не му оставя възможност да си поеме дъх. Абсолютно всяка една глава бях на ръба на стола в очакване на следващата развръзка. Изключително лесно е да се потопиш в атмосферата благодарение на двойната времева линия и множеството перспективи, които правят разказа изключително жив и непрекъснато поддържат темпото. Преходът между епохите е толкова балансиран, че за мен бе невъзможно да избера коя времева линия ми е по-интересна — с еднакъв трепет чаках да разбера какво се случва и в двете.
Въпреки присъствието на свръхестествени и фолклорни елементи, авторката е открила перфектния баланс между реалност и фантазия. Това придава на историята плашещо автентичен привкус. Личи си, че Макмеън е надградила стила си и е претърпяла сериозно авторско развитие.
Що се отнася до самия сюжет, не мога да открия нещо, което да му липсва. Той е изпълнен с множество тайни, обрати и неудобни въпроси. Взаимоотношенията между героите са живи, човешки и автентични. Дори романтичната нишка (изненадващо за трилър) се усеща като естествени допълнение, придаващо допълнителна плътност и живот на историята.
В основата на динамиката на трилъра е заложен и изключително дълбок психологически пласт. Силно ме впечатли начинът, по който са засегнати темите за предразсъдъците, колективната травма и механизма, по който културата, традициите и суеверията се предават поколение след поколение.
Историята ме накара за пореден път да осъзная колко витално значение има това да поставяме под въпрос всеобщите „истини“ и да търсим собствения си път — откривайки онзи фин баланс между уважението към традицията, съхраняването на собствената личност и модерните изисквания на средата ни.
Имах възможността да прочета книгата благодарение на предварително копие, подарък от прекрасните @benitorialbooks и мога с чиста съвест да кажа, че тя напълно оправда очакванията ми. „Не разравяй пръстта“ е брутален и атмосферно наситен трилър, който ще ви държи будни до късно (поне на мен осигури няколко безсънни нощи).
August 6, 2026
This is a dual time line about Boone’s Ferry, Vermont. A tiny, rustic town, well hidden from mainstream society from 1919-2016.
What was labeled as a flu epidemic in the 1900’s, claiming more than half the population-turned out to be something much more horrific. Symptoms sounded like rabies at first but what followed was dark, sinister-abominations and sheer terror!
Fast forward to 2016 and two adult siblings find out the hard way, that their ancestors, were trapped in that hellish nightmare, and that the “flu” might still be coming around. Will they uncover the truth? Set the town right on its feet again? While making it out unscathed?
Stay Buried is a mix of small town, rural folk horror and an uneasiness of everyday life that is saturated with a bizarre sense of the unexplainable supernatural, family secrets, and closeted relationships.
It is eery, suspenseful, a graphically described journey into the darkest nightmare you will struggle to awaken from.
Jennifer McMahon continues to be a class act, all the way, every time!
If she’s writing it? I am reading it!!
Thanks to Gallery Books for another stunning read, another keeper for the shelves.
What was labeled as a flu epidemic in the 1900’s, claiming more than half the population-turned out to be something much more horrific. Symptoms sounded like rabies at first but what followed was dark, sinister-abominations and sheer terror!
Fast forward to 2016 and two adult siblings find out the hard way, that their ancestors, were trapped in that hellish nightmare, and that the “flu” might still be coming around. Will they uncover the truth? Set the town right on its feet again? While making it out unscathed?
Stay Buried is a mix of small town, rural folk horror and an uneasiness of everyday life that is saturated with a bizarre sense of the unexplainable supernatural, family secrets, and closeted relationships.
It is eery, suspenseful, a graphically described journey into the darkest nightmare you will struggle to awaken from.
Jennifer McMahon continues to be a class act, all the way, every time!
If she’s writing it? I am reading it!!
Thanks to Gallery Books for another stunning read, another keeper for the shelves.
August 16, 2026
The horses go first. On the ninth of March 1919, five of them are found torn apart in a Vermont paddock, and the only survivor is chewing her own foreleg. That is page one of Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon, and by the following afternoon every horse in Boone's Ferry is dead, shot, or loose in the woods. The doctor calls it rabies because it is the nearest word he owns. It is not rabies. Within a week the same sickness is inside the people, and the town has decided it knows whose fault that is.
Four Days in March, and a Century of Payments
The 1919 chapters are narrated by Frankie O'Massey, eighteen, orphaned, taken in by the town doctor and trained as his apprentice. She wears her uncle's cast-off trousers and boots, smokes a pipe with the men at the pub, is regularly mistaken for a boy, and has never bothered to correct anyone. She is also secretly, ruinously in love with Pearl Stoddard, the factory owner's daughter, and the two of them meet in a derelict house at the edge of the woods that they have privately decided is their home.
The other timeline is 2016. Ashley Flanders, who dropped out of medical school after her mother's disappearance broke something in her, inherits a house in Boone's Ferry she never knew her family owned, along with a tenant paying one dollar a month. She and her brother drive up to a village that does not appear on the map, where the road literally dead-ends, and where a nine-year-old named Mini has just broken the only rule that matters: she looked at the knackerman.
The Sickness Is the Best Thing in the Book
McMahon has clearly done the reading, and it shows. The illness in Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon behaves like a real pathogen and not like a plot device: jaundice, wet lungs, an unmistakable smell of rotten fruit scorched in a fire, then an apparent death so convincing that two trained observers cannot find a pulse, then something afterwards that walks. The novel never once uses the word zombie. It does not need to. It stays inside 1919 medicine and lets the reader do the arithmetic, and the effect is far nastier than an explanation would have been. Anyone who reads about zoonotic disease will recognise the shape of what is happening long before Dr Endicott can name it, which only makes his notebooks more painful.
The real horror, though, is what the neighbours do. Offerings appear on doorsteps. Herbs are hung in windows. Men who have known each other since childhood start walking the woods at night with rifles, shooting the sick to save their souls. McMahon has said Shirley Jackson was on her mind, and it is visible in the best possible way: the violence is procedural, communal and entirely reasonable to the people committing it. The headstone they eventually raise over their scapegoat is blank polished granite, chosen so that anyone who visits will see themselves in it. That is the whole novel in one object.
What Works
Four things make Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon worth the hardback.
Frankie. A superb narrator: clinical, funny, frightened, precise, taking notes on the worst day of her life because writing a thing down makes it bearable. She is the best character McMahon has written.
The love story. Frankie and Pearl are given real weight and real want, and the book never turns them into a lesson. A late chapter from Pearl's point of view, dated 1956, is quietly devastating.
Mini. A nine-year-old who counts times tables to stay calm and finds people harder to read than crickets. She is never once written as adorable, which is why she works.
Sad Willy. The town drunk with a prosthetic foot turns out to hold the book's cruellest secret, and the reveal is earned rather than sprung.
Where It Drags
Four things keep Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon off the very top shelf, and all of them live in the present day.
The 2016 half runs a familiar route. Unhelpful desk clerk, records conveniently destroyed by fire, dead phone line, stolen truck battery, locked cellar. Each beat arrives exactly when you expect it.
Malcolm is a bundle of tics. Manifestation seminars, an ayahuasca retreat, a new business scheme every chapter, and a structural job that is mostly to disbelieve his sister.
The supernatural question is dodged. The book raises whether something genuinely came back and then declines to answer. Deliberate, and still likely to irritate.
The villagers blur. The shopkeeper, the waitress, the motel owner and half the 1919 mob are functions rather than people, which weakens a novel whose argument is that ordinary people did this.
Content, and Who This Is For
A Word on Content Warnings
Considerable animal suffering, on the page and early: horses shot, horses tearing each other apart, one chewing its own leg. A childhood memory of a duckling deliberately suffocated. A man burned alive at length, described in full. An autopsy in clinical detail. A suicide by firearm. A body exhumed. A child in serious danger. Mob violence, homophobia and enforced secrecy, a gunshot wound treated at home, epidemic illness with children among the dead, psychiatric hospitalisation and hallucination.
Who Should Read Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon
Reach for it if you like folk horror where the ritual has a paper trail, if you want a historical narrator worth the whole book, or if the phrase the town decided it was his fault makes the back of your neck prickle. Skip it if animal harm is a hard line, or if you need a mystery whose supernatural element is finally either confirmed or ruled out.
The Last Word on Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon
What lifts this above a competent dual-timeline chiller is that the 1919 sections are not merely the answer key to the 2016 mystery. They are the better novel, and McMahon knows it. Frankie is watching her town invent a devil in real time because a devil is easier to shoot than a disease, and she is clear-eyed enough to notice that she has been tolerated on exactly the same terms as the man they burn. The modern half is more predictable, and its villains are more familiar than its historical ones. But the last hundred pages land three separate blows, one of which is a letter written in 1956 by a woman still leaving a light on in the window, and none of them are cheap. A town buried a man and told a story over the grave for a hundred years. The story is the thing that kept eating.
Four Days in March, and a Century of Payments
The 1919 chapters are narrated by Frankie O'Massey, eighteen, orphaned, taken in by the town doctor and trained as his apprentice. She wears her uncle's cast-off trousers and boots, smokes a pipe with the men at the pub, is regularly mistaken for a boy, and has never bothered to correct anyone. She is also secretly, ruinously in love with Pearl Stoddard, the factory owner's daughter, and the two of them meet in a derelict house at the edge of the woods that they have privately decided is their home.
The other timeline is 2016. Ashley Flanders, who dropped out of medical school after her mother's disappearance broke something in her, inherits a house in Boone's Ferry she never knew her family owned, along with a tenant paying one dollar a month. She and her brother drive up to a village that does not appear on the map, where the road literally dead-ends, and where a nine-year-old named Mini has just broken the only rule that matters: she looked at the knackerman.
The Sickness Is the Best Thing in the Book
McMahon has clearly done the reading, and it shows. The illness in Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon behaves like a real pathogen and not like a plot device: jaundice, wet lungs, an unmistakable smell of rotten fruit scorched in a fire, then an apparent death so convincing that two trained observers cannot find a pulse, then something afterwards that walks. The novel never once uses the word zombie. It does not need to. It stays inside 1919 medicine and lets the reader do the arithmetic, and the effect is far nastier than an explanation would have been. Anyone who reads about zoonotic disease will recognise the shape of what is happening long before Dr Endicott can name it, which only makes his notebooks more painful.
The real horror, though, is what the neighbours do. Offerings appear on doorsteps. Herbs are hung in windows. Men who have known each other since childhood start walking the woods at night with rifles, shooting the sick to save their souls. McMahon has said Shirley Jackson was on her mind, and it is visible in the best possible way: the violence is procedural, communal and entirely reasonable to the people committing it. The headstone they eventually raise over their scapegoat is blank polished granite, chosen so that anyone who visits will see themselves in it. That is the whole novel in one object.
What Works
Four things make Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon worth the hardback.
Frankie. A superb narrator: clinical, funny, frightened, precise, taking notes on the worst day of her life because writing a thing down makes it bearable. She is the best character McMahon has written.
The love story. Frankie and Pearl are given real weight and real want, and the book never turns them into a lesson. A late chapter from Pearl's point of view, dated 1956, is quietly devastating.
Mini. A nine-year-old who counts times tables to stay calm and finds people harder to read than crickets. She is never once written as adorable, which is why she works.
Sad Willy. The town drunk with a prosthetic foot turns out to hold the book's cruellest secret, and the reveal is earned rather than sprung.
Where It Drags
Four things keep Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon off the very top shelf, and all of them live in the present day.
The 2016 half runs a familiar route. Unhelpful desk clerk, records conveniently destroyed by fire, dead phone line, stolen truck battery, locked cellar. Each beat arrives exactly when you expect it.
Malcolm is a bundle of tics. Manifestation seminars, an ayahuasca retreat, a new business scheme every chapter, and a structural job that is mostly to disbelieve his sister.
The supernatural question is dodged. The book raises whether something genuinely came back and then declines to answer. Deliberate, and still likely to irritate.
The villagers blur. The shopkeeper, the waitress, the motel owner and half the 1919 mob are functions rather than people, which weakens a novel whose argument is that ordinary people did this.
Content, and Who This Is For
A Word on Content Warnings
Considerable animal suffering, on the page and early: horses shot, horses tearing each other apart, one chewing its own leg. A childhood memory of a duckling deliberately suffocated. A man burned alive at length, described in full. An autopsy in clinical detail. A suicide by firearm. A body exhumed. A child in serious danger. Mob violence, homophobia and enforced secrecy, a gunshot wound treated at home, epidemic illness with children among the dead, psychiatric hospitalisation and hallucination.
Who Should Read Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon
Reach for it if you like folk horror where the ritual has a paper trail, if you want a historical narrator worth the whole book, or if the phrase the town decided it was his fault makes the back of your neck prickle. Skip it if animal harm is a hard line, or if you need a mystery whose supernatural element is finally either confirmed or ruled out.
The Last Word on Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon
What lifts this above a competent dual-timeline chiller is that the 1919 sections are not merely the answer key to the 2016 mystery. They are the better novel, and McMahon knows it. Frankie is watching her town invent a devil in real time because a devil is easier to shoot than a disease, and she is clear-eyed enough to notice that she has been tolerated on exactly the same terms as the man they burn. The modern half is more predictable, and its villains are more familiar than its historical ones. But the last hundred pages land three separate blows, one of which is a letter written in 1956 by a woman still leaving a light on in the window, and none of them are cheap. A town buried a man and told a story over the grave for a hundred years. The story is the thing that kept eating.
August 13, 2026
Jennifer McMahons storytelling ability is excellent, and I’ve been obsessed with her novel for years! In STAY BURIED, she skillfully mixes a creepy small town, an old folk tale (or is it…) and generational trauma! The atmosphere is phenomenal (as it is in ALL her books) and the mixture of timelines brings everything together beautifully. I think my only complaint is Frankie’s storyline. She deserved so much better 😭. Regardless, I really enjoyed this one! I found the premise to be creepy and so damn intriguing.
𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
August 14, 2026
4.5 stars. While this one is a little slower at the beginning I ended up loving it and where this story went. I loved the creepy creepy nature of this story and what happens I it. Cannot wait to present this folk horror at Spooky Reads.
July 20, 2026
I was happy to receive the ARC of Stay Buried. The premise of the story was intriguing and knowing the author writes some really creepy twisted books, I thought for sure I’d love it. I hate to say this is one of the worst books I have ever read. It started off well, but it just got really convoluted as the story went on. It wasn’t even scary and unneeded storyline and characters in the book that didn’t need to be there.
August 14, 2026
Slow burn, historical horror perfection.
This is a story featuring urban legends, curses, mysterious illness, the undead, and generations of fear. It is told through past and present timelines, both of which kept me totally engaged from start to finish. It is slow to begin with but this never once made me lose interest in wanting to turn the pages. At 400 pages I thought it would feel long, but I still could have kept reading more.
The element that really pushed it up to 5 stars for me was the sapphic subplot between two characters. How the POVs wrapped up at the end was devastating and also left things with a lingering question which worked for me.
This is a story featuring urban legends, curses, mysterious illness, the undead, and generations of fear. It is told through past and present timelines, both of which kept me totally engaged from start to finish. It is slow to begin with but this never once made me lose interest in wanting to turn the pages. At 400 pages I thought it would feel long, but I still could have kept reading more.
The element that really pushed it up to 5 stars for me was the sapphic subplot between two characters. How the POVs wrapped up at the end was devastating and also left things with a lingering question which worked for me.
August 14, 2026
Доста ми хареса. Обикновено не посягам към книги с две времеви линии, но тук беше особено интересно и не ме дразнеше по никакъв начин. Историята е доста различна и интригуваща, поне за мен и това, което съм свикнала да чета. Имаше моменти, в които предпочитах да не поглеждам корицата, тъй като доста допринася за атмосферата и ми се щеше да не я чета през нощта, но няма да се лъжем, това определено подпомогна още повече към тръпките, които ме побиваха. Последната страница ме остави с приятно чувство (тези, които знаят, знаят). Определено ще разгледам и другите книги на авторката и ще се разровя за други книги от фолк хорър жанра!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Great characters and story. The timelines really worked well here.
August 12, 2026
Review to come at SmexyBooks.
August 14, 2026
Най-сигурните 5* тази година. Даже забавих накрая темпото защото не исках да свършва - толкова увлекателна и добра.
August 12, 2026
Excellent book!!!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance reader copy of Stay Buried! I have read every adult fiction book by Jennifer McMahon, as her books are always my favorite to read on airplanes and/or on vacation. This haunted horse/town/illness story was so fun, and now I can't stop thinking about The Knackerman!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.
This book was creepy. The tale of the knackerman is chilling. I loved the dual timeline and how the past and present wove together. It's a very layered book that winds horror with issues of humanity and mass hysteria.
This book was creepy. The tale of the knackerman is chilling. I loved the dual timeline and how the past and present wove together. It's a very layered book that winds horror with issues of humanity and mass hysteria.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Jennifer McMahon really said, "What if generational trauma had a mascot?" and then created Boone's Ferry, Vermont, a town so aggressively committed to making bad decisions that by the end I wanted to stand in the middle of the town square holding a PowerPoint presentation titled Maybe We Should Stop Doing This?
Stay Buried follows two timelines. In 1919, Frankie O'Massey is helping her uncle, the town doctor, when a terrifying illness starts with the horses and works its way through the town. In 2016, siblings Ashley and Malcolm arrive in Boone's Ferry after inheriting family property and hoping to finally uncover the truth about their mother's death. Unfortunately for them, Boone's Ferry is one of those places where every answer comes bundled with three new questions and at least one deeply unsettling local tradition.
And listen, Frankie O'Massey absolutely walked away with this book tucked under her arm. Frankie is queer, stubborn, smarter than most of the people around her, and trying desperately to apply logic in a town that sees a mysterious illness and immediately says, "Well, obviously this is some supernatural nonsense." The woman is out here doing science while everyone else is auditioning for a cautionary tale. Every time her chapters came up, I settled in like I was about to hear the best gossip of the evening.
The real villain, however, might be Boone's Ferry itself. This town has the energy of a place where someone says, "We've done it this way for generations," and your survival instincts immediately kick in. It's beautiful, isolated, covered in gorgeous Vermont scenery, and absolutely crawling with bad vibes. Every resident seems to know more than they're saying. Every tradition feels like it started with one terrible decision that somehow became a community event. The whole thing gave me strong The Village meets Midnight Mass energy, except somehow with even less communication.
The Knackerman folklore is exactly my favorite kind of creepy because the monster isn't really the point. The point is what people are willing to believe when they're scared. McMahon does such a great job showing how fear mutates into tradition, tradition mutates into doctrine, and suddenly you've got entire generations organizing their lives around stories nobody bothered to question. At a certain point I stopped worrying about the supernatural elements and started worrying about everyone who had ever attended a town meeting.
The thing that sneaks up on you is how much this book hurts. One minute you're worried about creepy local traditions and the next you're watching people drag around years of grief and family baggage like they're carrying an overstuffed suitcase through an airport. Ashley and Malcolm are trying to untangle the mystery surrounding their mother while Frankie is fighting for a future that keeps shrinking every time society reminds her who she's supposed to be. McMahon never makes a big speech about any of it. She just slips those emotional landmines into the story and waits for you to step on them.
The timeline switches should have annoyed me, but every chapter ended with some fresh disaster and I kept falling for it. Every single time. Jennifer McMahon was basically standing beside me whispering, "You want one more chapter," and unfortunately she was right. The woman knows exactly how to weaponize curiosity.
I will say I wanted a little more clarity on a few things by the end. There were moments where I felt like Charlie Day staring at the conspiracy board and demanding answers from people who clearly did not have them. But honestly, the atmosphere is so strong and the character work is so good that I didn't mind living with a little uncertainty. Folk horror and neat answers rarely get along anyway.
The thing McMahon always understands is that monsters are scary, sure, but people are the ones who keep handing the monsters the keys. This story is packed with grief, fear, family secrets, and generations of people making catastrophically bad choices because confronting reality sounds harder. Which is, unfortunately, one of the most realistic things in the entire book.
Also, Frankie O'Massey, I would like to personally apologize that you had to be the smartest person in Boone's Ferry. That sounds exhausting.
Stay Buried is creepy, melancholy, weird as hell, full of autumn atmosphere, and exactly the kind of folk horror that makes you want to move to a remote Vermont town right up until you remember what happens in remote Vermont towns. Easy 4 stars.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Distrust Every Quaint Harvest Festival, Town Founder Celebration, and Community Potluck Like It Secretly Ends With Someone Getting Chased Into The Woods
Huge thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC. You gave me a haunted Vermont town, deeply concerning local folklore, several generations of terrible decisions, and Frankie O'Massey. Frankly, that's a gift basket designed specifically for me.
Stay Buried follows two timelines. In 1919, Frankie O'Massey is helping her uncle, the town doctor, when a terrifying illness starts with the horses and works its way through the town. In 2016, siblings Ashley and Malcolm arrive in Boone's Ferry after inheriting family property and hoping to finally uncover the truth about their mother's death. Unfortunately for them, Boone's Ferry is one of those places where every answer comes bundled with three new questions and at least one deeply unsettling local tradition.
And listen, Frankie O'Massey absolutely walked away with this book tucked under her arm. Frankie is queer, stubborn, smarter than most of the people around her, and trying desperately to apply logic in a town that sees a mysterious illness and immediately says, "Well, obviously this is some supernatural nonsense." The woman is out here doing science while everyone else is auditioning for a cautionary tale. Every time her chapters came up, I settled in like I was about to hear the best gossip of the evening.
The real villain, however, might be Boone's Ferry itself. This town has the energy of a place where someone says, "We've done it this way for generations," and your survival instincts immediately kick in. It's beautiful, isolated, covered in gorgeous Vermont scenery, and absolutely crawling with bad vibes. Every resident seems to know more than they're saying. Every tradition feels like it started with one terrible decision that somehow became a community event. The whole thing gave me strong The Village meets Midnight Mass energy, except somehow with even less communication.
The Knackerman folklore is exactly my favorite kind of creepy because the monster isn't really the point. The point is what people are willing to believe when they're scared. McMahon does such a great job showing how fear mutates into tradition, tradition mutates into doctrine, and suddenly you've got entire generations organizing their lives around stories nobody bothered to question. At a certain point I stopped worrying about the supernatural elements and started worrying about everyone who had ever attended a town meeting.
The thing that sneaks up on you is how much this book hurts. One minute you're worried about creepy local traditions and the next you're watching people drag around years of grief and family baggage like they're carrying an overstuffed suitcase through an airport. Ashley and Malcolm are trying to untangle the mystery surrounding their mother while Frankie is fighting for a future that keeps shrinking every time society reminds her who she's supposed to be. McMahon never makes a big speech about any of it. She just slips those emotional landmines into the story and waits for you to step on them.
The timeline switches should have annoyed me, but every chapter ended with some fresh disaster and I kept falling for it. Every single time. Jennifer McMahon was basically standing beside me whispering, "You want one more chapter," and unfortunately she was right. The woman knows exactly how to weaponize curiosity.
I will say I wanted a little more clarity on a few things by the end. There were moments where I felt like Charlie Day staring at the conspiracy board and demanding answers from people who clearly did not have them. But honestly, the atmosphere is so strong and the character work is so good that I didn't mind living with a little uncertainty. Folk horror and neat answers rarely get along anyway.
The thing McMahon always understands is that monsters are scary, sure, but people are the ones who keep handing the monsters the keys. This story is packed with grief, fear, family secrets, and generations of people making catastrophically bad choices because confronting reality sounds harder. Which is, unfortunately, one of the most realistic things in the entire book.
Also, Frankie O'Massey, I would like to personally apologize that you had to be the smartest person in Boone's Ferry. That sounds exhausting.
Stay Buried is creepy, melancholy, weird as hell, full of autumn atmosphere, and exactly the kind of folk horror that makes you want to move to a remote Vermont town right up until you remember what happens in remote Vermont towns. Easy 4 stars.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Distrust Every Quaint Harvest Festival, Town Founder Celebration, and Community Potluck Like It Secretly Ends With Someone Getting Chased Into The Woods
Huge thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC. You gave me a haunted Vermont town, deeply concerning local folklore, several generations of terrible decisions, and Frankie O'Massey. Frankly, that's a gift basket designed specifically for me.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
👻 Има автори, чиито истории обичаш, а има и такива, при които още самото отваряне на нова книга носи онова специално усещане, че предстои нещо познато и едновременно напълно ново. Дженифър Макмеън е един от тези автори за мен.
👻 Още от първата ми среща с нейното творчество разбрах, че съм се влюбила в начина, по който пише. Оттогава съм прочела всички нейни книги и всеки един път тя успява да ме изненада. Мислиш си, че вече познаваш стила ѝ, че знаеш как да разгадаеш посоката, в която ще тръгне историята, но тя винаги намира начин да те накара да се усъмниш, да започнеш да търсиш отговори заедно с героите и да се потопиш напълно в света, който създава. И точно това обичам най-много в нейните книги-никога не знаеш какво ще откриеш на следващата страница.
👻 „Не разравяй пръстта“ надмина всички мои очаквания. Това е от онези истории, в които усещаш, че зад всяка тайна има още една, а зад всяка легенда се крие нещо, което чака да бъде разкрито. Макмеън има невероятен талант да смесва мистерия, градски легенди и човешкото желание да достигнеш до истината, независимо колко опасен може да се окаже този път.
👻 Това, което най-много ме впечатли в книгата, беше начинът, по който е изградена историята. Романът ни пренася между две времеви линии 1919 г. и 2016 г. и вместо едната да остане на заден план, и двете ме държаха еднакво любопитна. Рядко ми се случва в подобен тип книги да нямам предпочитание към една от историите, но тук всяко връщане назад или преминаване към настоящето носеше нови въпроси и нови детайли, които ме караха да искам да разбера повече.
👻 Множеството гледни точки допълниха това усещане още повече. Всеки герой виждаше случващото се по различен начин и постепенно всички тези части започнаха да се събират в една по-голяма картина. Хареса ми, че не получаваме всички отговори веднага, а трябва заедно с героите да преминем през съмненията, страховете и откритията.
👻 Това е и причината толкова много да ценя начина, по който Дженифър Макмеън пише. Тя не просто създава загадка, която трябва да бъде разгадана. Тя изгражда атмосфера, в която започваш да се питаш къде свършва реалността и къде започват старите вярвания и легенди. Нейните герои не са хора, които могат просто да обърнат гръб и да продължат напред. Те искат да разберат истината, дори когато това означава да поставят себе си в опасност. Именно тази решителност прави историите ѝ толкова завладяващи.
👻 Героите в „Не разравяй пръстта“ също допринасят много за въздействието на книгата. Хареса ми, че са представени истински със своите страхове, съмнения и желание да разберат какво стои зад случващото се. Те не са просто част от мистерията, а са хора, чиито избори движат историята напред.
👻 Но най-голямата сила на тази книга за мен остава начинът, по който Макмеън разказва. Тя може да превърне едно малко градче, стари традиции и забравени истории в нещо, което носи едновременно красота и тревожност. В нейните книги винаги има усещането, че под повърхността се крие нещо повече и че трябва само да се осмелиш да погледнеш по-дълбоко.
👻 След като съм прочела всички книги на Дженифър Макмеън, мога да кажа, че тя е един от онези автори, към които винаги се връщам с огромно удоволствие. Всяка нейна история ме е плашила по свой собствен начин, всяка ме е изненадвала и всяка ми е напомняла защо толкова много обичам нейния стил.
👻 „Не разравяй пръстта“ е още една книга, която затвърди мястото ѝ сред любимите ми автори. История, в която мистерията, легендите и човешките тайни се преплитат по начин, който само Дженифър Макмеън умее да създава.
Благодаря на издателството за предварителното копие!💛
👻 Още от първата ми среща с нейното творчество разбрах, че съм се влюбила в начина, по който пише. Оттогава съм прочела всички нейни книги и всеки един път тя успява да ме изненада. Мислиш си, че вече познаваш стила ѝ, че знаеш как да разгадаеш посоката, в която ще тръгне историята, но тя винаги намира начин да те накара да се усъмниш, да започнеш да търсиш отговори заедно с героите и да се потопиш напълно в света, който създава. И точно това обичам най-много в нейните книги-никога не знаеш какво ще откриеш на следващата страница.
👻 „Не разравяй пръстта“ надмина всички мои очаквания. Това е от онези истории, в които усещаш, че зад всяка тайна има още една, а зад всяка легенда се крие нещо, което чака да бъде разкрито. Макмеън има невероятен талант да смесва мистерия, градски легенди и човешкото желание да достигнеш до истината, независимо колко опасен може да се окаже този път.
👻 Това, което най-много ме впечатли в книгата, беше начинът, по който е изградена историята. Романът ни пренася между две времеви линии 1919 г. и 2016 г. и вместо едната да остане на заден план, и двете ме държаха еднакво любопитна. Рядко ми се случва в подобен тип книги да нямам предпочитание към една от историите, но тук всяко връщане назад или преминаване към настоящето носеше нови въпроси и нови детайли, които ме караха да искам да разбера повече.
👻 Множеството гледни точки допълниха това усещане още повече. Всеки герой виждаше случващото се по различен начин и постепенно всички тези части започнаха да се събират в една по-голяма картина. Хареса ми, че не получаваме всички отговори веднага, а трябва заедно с героите да преминем през съмненията, страховете и откритията.
👻 Това е и причината толкова много да ценя начина, по който Дженифър Макмеън пише. Тя не просто създава загадка, която трябва да бъде разгадана. Тя изгражда атмосфера, в която започваш да се питаш къде свършва реалността и къде започват старите вярвания и легенди. Нейните герои не са хора, които могат просто да обърнат гръб и да продължат напред. Те искат да разберат истината, дори когато това означава да поставят себе си в опасност. Именно тази решителност прави историите ѝ толкова завладяващи.
👻 Героите в „Не разравяй пръстта“ също допринасят много за въздействието на книгата. Хареса ми, че са представени истински със своите страхове, съмнения и желание да разберат какво стои зад случващото се. Те не са просто част от мистерията, а са хора, чиито избори движат историята напред.
👻 Но най-голямата сила на тази книга за мен остава начинът, по който Макмеън разказва. Тя може да превърне едно малко градче, стари традиции и забравени истории в нещо, което носи едновременно красота и тревожност. В нейните книги винаги има усещането, че под повърхността се крие нещо повече и че трябва само да се осмелиш да погледнеш по-дълбоко.
👻 След като съм прочела всички книги на Дженифър Макмеън, мога да кажа, че тя е един от онези автори, към които винаги се връщам с огромно удоволствие. Всяка нейна история ме е плашила по свой собствен начин, всяка ме е изненадвала и всяка ми е напомняла защо толкова много обичам нейния стил.
👻 „Не разравяй пръстта“ е още една книга, която затвърди мястото ѝ сред любимите ми автори. История, в която мистерията, легендите и човешките тайни се преплитат по начин, който само Дженифър Макмеън умее да създава.
Благодаря на издателството за предварителното копие!💛
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Jennifer McMahon delivers a chilling, atmospheric triumph with “Stay Buried,” a dual-timeline folk horror novel that explores how fear, superstition, and collective belief can rot a community from the inside out. Equal parts historical horror, modern mystery, and slow-burning dread, this book proves once again why McMahon is a master of unsettling small-town stories.
The story unfolds across two timelines. In 1919, Boone’s Ferry is still reeling from the devastation of the Spanish Flu when a new horror emerges: a mysterious illness begins killing horses, then spreads to humans. Victims grow aggressive, violent, and contagious and bitten flesh passes the sickness along in ways that feel disturbingly zombie-like. At the center of this chaos is Frankie O’Massey, an orphan and outsider who assists her uncle, the town doctor. Frankie is sharp, ambitious, queer, and unapologetically different in a town that fears anything it doesn’t understand. As panic escalates, science clashes with superstition, and the town’s knackerman, who is a quiet man tasked with disposing of dead animals, becomes the first human victim of the disease, transforming from an ordinary man into something terrifying. His return ignites hysteria, and Boone’s Ferry begins rewriting history through fear.
In 2016, siblings Ashley and Malcolm return to Boone’s Ferry after inheriting their grandmother’s long-forbidden house, which is a place tied to their family’s past and their mother’s unexplained disappearance. Ashley is haunted by visions of her dead mother, who urges her to “listen,” while the town itself feels hostile and watchful. The locals maintain strange traditions: offerings and sacrifices left for the Knackerman, a mythical figure believed to punish those who displease him. While these rituals actually working is never proven, but belief, McMahon makes clear, is often more powerful than truth.
As the timelines unfold in tandem, the story reveals how folklore is born; not from magic, but from desperation. What began as a disease becomes a legend. What started as fear becomes doctrine. And generation after generation clings to superstition, even when it costs them everything. Additional perspectives from townspeople, including a young girl named Mini, show how deeply these beliefs are ingrained and how dangerous collective groupthink can become.
McMahon’s pacing is relentless. Each chapter ends with a hook, making it impossible to choose which timeline you want to stay in; both are equally tense and engrossing. The horror isn’t just in the violence or the infection, but in watching reason collapse and history repeat itself. Frankie’s story is especially powerful, grounding the story in grief, resilience, and quiet rebellion, while Ashley’s present-day arc builds toward mounting paranoia and pursuit.
The ending is classic McMahon: unsettling, open, and dripping with unease. Not everything is neatly resolved, and that’s precisely the point. The fear lingers. The legend survives. And Boone’s Ferry remains a place where belief can be just as deadly as any disease.
Overall, “Stay Buried” is a masterclass in folk horror and atmospheric storytelling. A must-read for fans of dual timelines, cursed towns, and stories where the scariest monsters are the ones people choose to believe in.
Jennifer McMahon delivers a chilling, atmospheric triumph with “Stay Buried,” a dual-timeline folk horror novel that explores how fear, superstition, and collective belief can rot a community from the inside out. Equal parts historical horror, modern mystery, and slow-burning dread, this book proves once again why McMahon is a master of unsettling small-town stories.
The story unfolds across two timelines. In 1919, Boone’s Ferry is still reeling from the devastation of the Spanish Flu when a new horror emerges: a mysterious illness begins killing horses, then spreads to humans. Victims grow aggressive, violent, and contagious and bitten flesh passes the sickness along in ways that feel disturbingly zombie-like. At the center of this chaos is Frankie O’Massey, an orphan and outsider who assists her uncle, the town doctor. Frankie is sharp, ambitious, queer, and unapologetically different in a town that fears anything it doesn’t understand. As panic escalates, science clashes with superstition, and the town’s knackerman, who is a quiet man tasked with disposing of dead animals, becomes the first human victim of the disease, transforming from an ordinary man into something terrifying. His return ignites hysteria, and Boone’s Ferry begins rewriting history through fear.
In 2016, siblings Ashley and Malcolm return to Boone’s Ferry after inheriting their grandmother’s long-forbidden house, which is a place tied to their family’s past and their mother’s unexplained disappearance. Ashley is haunted by visions of her dead mother, who urges her to “listen,” while the town itself feels hostile and watchful. The locals maintain strange traditions: offerings and sacrifices left for the Knackerman, a mythical figure believed to punish those who displease him. While these rituals actually working is never proven, but belief, McMahon makes clear, is often more powerful than truth.
As the timelines unfold in tandem, the story reveals how folklore is born; not from magic, but from desperation. What began as a disease becomes a legend. What started as fear becomes doctrine. And generation after generation clings to superstition, even when it costs them everything. Additional perspectives from townspeople, including a young girl named Mini, show how deeply these beliefs are ingrained and how dangerous collective groupthink can become.
McMahon’s pacing is relentless. Each chapter ends with a hook, making it impossible to choose which timeline you want to stay in; both are equally tense and engrossing. The horror isn’t just in the violence or the infection, but in watching reason collapse and history repeat itself. Frankie’s story is especially powerful, grounding the story in grief, resilience, and quiet rebellion, while Ashley’s present-day arc builds toward mounting paranoia and pursuit.
The ending is classic McMahon: unsettling, open, and dripping with unease. Not everything is neatly resolved, and that’s precisely the point. The fear lingers. The legend survives. And Boone’s Ferry remains a place where belief can be just as deadly as any disease.
Overall, “Stay Buried” is a masterclass in folk horror and atmospheric storytelling. A must-read for fans of dual timelines, cursed towns, and stories where the scariest monsters are the ones people choose to believe in.
August 11, 2026
I've read at least three previous books by Jennifer McMahon and have a couple more on my shelves so when I see a new release announced, I'm always excited to see what she comes up with next. I personally have never heard of a knackerman and after reading this book and by the sheer nature of his job, I don't think I would like him.
This book is expertly told in dual timelines and I have to admit, I was thoroughly invested in both. In 1919, Frankie is living with her uncle and learning to practice medicine. Frankie has not been well accepted as she prefers wearing men's clothing and has a secret relationship with her childhood bestie, Pearl, but she fits in as her uncle's assistant and she and Pearl have dreams of one day sharing their lives together out in the open. In 2016, Ashley and Malcomb have just recently lost their grandmother following their mother's disappearance two years ago and after the passing, they have been left with more questions than answers.
Ashley and Malcomb learn they have inherited a home in Boone's Ferry, a place their grandmother claims she has never been. In addition, it was also the last known whereabouts of their mother, who was working on a genealogy project when last seen. The timelines overlap and little by little, the reader is told of the Knackerman. The Knackerman was an elusive man in Boone's Ferry who came and took away the dead animals in the town and turned them into useful items such a glue, leather and other materials. One day, most of horses turn up sick and Boone's Ferry and before the week is out, most have passed gruesome deaths, often mutilating and injuring each other in the process. Frankie and her uncle are trying to figure out what is going but before long, the illness has spread to humans and results in them dying and then "coming back to life" before succumbing to irreversible madness. Everyone blames the Knackerman as he was the Patient Zero and what transpires is an urban legend that continues to haunt Boone's Ferry into 2016. The danger grows the more Ashley and Malcomb learn more about this history and the evil that lurks in Boone's Ferry and can they uncover the truth and escape before it is too late.
I adore McMahon's writing and the moment I started enjoying one timeline more than the other, she pulled me right back in to choosing another favorite. The whole book is filled with suspense and an atmosphere filled with dread. I loved all the main characters and wanted to best for them all but ultimately knew that wouldn't happen. I also loved the way McMahon showed us several sides to the Knackerman and the lore surrounding him in Boone's Ferry.
I will warn you this was a difficult read in the beginning. The poor horse situations were graphic and hard to handle at times. However, they were not abusive and were not sensationalized at all. I can't rave about this book enough and when I finished it, even though it was 400 pages, I still wanted more. McMahon is becoming an auto-read author for me, and I can't wait to learn what she comes up with next.
This book is expertly told in dual timelines and I have to admit, I was thoroughly invested in both. In 1919, Frankie is living with her uncle and learning to practice medicine. Frankie has not been well accepted as she prefers wearing men's clothing and has a secret relationship with her childhood bestie, Pearl, but she fits in as her uncle's assistant and she and Pearl have dreams of one day sharing their lives together out in the open. In 2016, Ashley and Malcomb have just recently lost their grandmother following their mother's disappearance two years ago and after the passing, they have been left with more questions than answers.
Ashley and Malcomb learn they have inherited a home in Boone's Ferry, a place their grandmother claims she has never been. In addition, it was also the last known whereabouts of their mother, who was working on a genealogy project when last seen. The timelines overlap and little by little, the reader is told of the Knackerman. The Knackerman was an elusive man in Boone's Ferry who came and took away the dead animals in the town and turned them into useful items such a glue, leather and other materials. One day, most of horses turn up sick and Boone's Ferry and before the week is out, most have passed gruesome deaths, often mutilating and injuring each other in the process. Frankie and her uncle are trying to figure out what is going but before long, the illness has spread to humans and results in them dying and then "coming back to life" before succumbing to irreversible madness. Everyone blames the Knackerman as he was the Patient Zero and what transpires is an urban legend that continues to haunt Boone's Ferry into 2016. The danger grows the more Ashley and Malcomb learn more about this history and the evil that lurks in Boone's Ferry and can they uncover the truth and escape before it is too late.
I adore McMahon's writing and the moment I started enjoying one timeline more than the other, she pulled me right back in to choosing another favorite. The whole book is filled with suspense and an atmosphere filled with dread. I loved all the main characters and wanted to best for them all but ultimately knew that wouldn't happen. I also loved the way McMahon showed us several sides to the Knackerman and the lore surrounding him in Boone's Ferry.
I will warn you this was a difficult read in the beginning. The poor horse situations were graphic and hard to handle at times. However, they were not abusive and were not sensationalized at all. I can't rave about this book enough and when I finished it, even though it was 400 pages, I still wanted more. McMahon is becoming an auto-read author for me, and I can't wait to learn what she comes up with next.
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