There is a specific kind of dread that comes from a map running out of road. Not the jump scare of a sudden noise, but the slow, sinking realisation that the ferry you took only runs one way, and the locals are not simply unfriendly; they are still.
Gretchen McNeil’s We Are For The Dark, arriving in hardback and ebook on the first of September 2026 from Black Crow PR, understands this geographical anxiety perfectly. The premise hinges on a missing priest and the strange circumstances that pull an FBI analyst turned clergyman and a sceptical constable to a remote Newfoundland island.
A procedural mind meets an ancient hunger where the boats have stopped running.
We Are For The Dark by Gretchen McNeil
An isolated town. A missing priest. An ancient, hungry darkness.What starts as a missing person investigation morphs into something much darker when an FBI agent turned Catholic priest and a junior constable arrive on a remote Newfoundland island. This murder- mystery turned horror is perfect for fans of religious horror and cult-classic The Wicker Man.
When Father Shane Ryan is summoned to a meeting with His Eminence Cardinal Jacobs, he’s confused. A recently ordained priest at a small Maryland parish, Father Ryan has no idea why His Eminence would want to meet him. When he arrives, the Cardinal opens by laying out Father Ryan’s past as an FBI analyst.
It seems a priest has gone missing, and the case is…unusual. Weeks ago, Constable Miriam Rideout from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary fielded a frantic call from a priest on a remote Newfoundland island. He begged for help, but then the line went dead, and no one has since been reported missing. When permission to perform a wellness check is denied by her superiors, Miriam takes some vacation time and books a ticket on the ferry.
Thrown together with friendly but cagey locals, Miriam and Father Ryan soon learn that something about the island isn’t right. There’s a fishing port without boats, a town with no stores and no cars, and strange, bulbous purple wildflowers are growing everywhere. The two don’t trust each other, but they begin to learn that an alliance, however uneasy, is a necessity. Because something evil lurks beneath the island—something ancient, eternal, hungry—and neither it nor the uncanny islanders have any intention of letting these newcomers leave. A growing sense of dread intensifies until it explodes in this mystery turned nail-biting gothic horror.
Gretchen McNeil’s novels have been published internationally in over a dozen languages, and she has also written for the BBC, Disney and Netflix. An adult horror short story she wrote for Assemble Media last year has already been optioned by a major studio. This is her first adult novel. She lives with her family in California.
When asked about her inspirations, the author writes
“I come from an Irish family, an ancestry deeply rooted in both folklore and Catholicism. I’ve always been fascinated by how those two things coexist historically in Ireland, and one of my favorite themes to explore in both my adult and young adult writing is religion as folk horror, an undercurrent on full display in We Are for the Dark.
I also love a creepy, isolated island, a setting that recurs in several of my novels. InWe Are for the Dark, Bale Island represents the ultimate isolation—physically, emotionally, technologically. As the trappings of modern civilisation are stripped away, the line between myth and reality blurs, creating a liminal space where a priest and a police officer are forced to confront the darkness within. For me, this novel is about breaking down the entrenched beliefs of good and evil, and examining how far humans are willing to go to prove their faith.”
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Gretchen McNeil
Gretchen McNeil has been a published young adult novelist since 2011, currently with Disney-Hyperion. Her latest YA novel is Four Letter Word, which came out in March of this year. Gretchen’s novels have been published internationally in over a dozen languages. Ten: Murder Island, the film adaptation of Ten starring China Anne McClain (Descendants 2, Black Lightning) premiered on Lifetime in 2017, and Get Even and Get Dirty have been adapted as the series Get Even and Rebel Cheer Squad: a Get Even series for BBC and Netflix. An adult horror short story she wrote for Assemble Media last year has already been optioned by a major studio. This is her first adult novel.
Website Links:
Author Website: https://www.gretchenmcneil.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gretchen_mcneil/
PRAISE FOR THEY FEAR NOT MEN IN THE WOODS
‘McNeil surprises and thrills’ — Kiersten White
‘Delivered everything I wanted – and more’ –Tananarive Due
‘An eco-creeper folk horror freakout’ –Clay McLeod Chapman
‘Wonderfully weird and genuinely frightening’ –Jonathan Maberry
McNeil delivers a relentless, creepy, and ultimately smart novel that celebrates its bold choices. –GNoH
Further Reading
A Review of They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil, Will You Go Into The Woods Today?
McNeil delivers a relentless, creepy, and ultimately smart novel that celebrates its bold choices. If you’re ready for a story that respects the classics while fiercely carving its own path, you need to step into these woods. Just be prepared for what you might find there. Trust me, there is no teddy bear picnic.
They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil’s Gateway to Folk Horror
Tip to tail, Wylding Hall is unsettling, eerie, and askew, leaving me with delicious ambiguities and shudder-inducing moments. I love the tone, the characters, the way the mystery is teased and unfolds, but mostly, I love the way the story is so grounded in the land, as if centuries of history have steeped into it then bubbled up into the present narrative. Suddenly, I began thinking of a story, also inspired by a poem—Kipling’s “The Way Through the Woods”—that would bring the ancient and the modern together with potentially deadly results. Wylding Hall inspired me to explore a new path in my writing, and for that I am eternally grateful.
