Fog Heart

"His body flew into hers, his face into hers, a glimpse of an unbearably elongated eye rushing directly into hers. It felt as if she had been hit by a wave of frigid moisture, so shocking to her system that it nearly knocked her out, and at the same moment she could hear him shriek in agony--from within her body, the awful noise filling her, seeming to swell her brain and resound in the chambers of her heart, devastating her with shared pain."

A woman is horrified by visits from her dead father. Her cold psychopath of a husband thinks she's being ridiculous. Another husband and wife are getting messages from their long-lost daughter who died as an infant. The two couples consult a medium named Oona--a serious, moody teenager with Pre-Raphaelite hair. Sensing that their fates are intertwined, Oona introduces them and insists on conducting their séances together. Fog Heart is a dark, disturbing ghost story, one in which the living characters' inner torments and relationships with each other are more crucial than the supernatural events. The pacing is a little uneven, but Thomas Tessier--called "horror fiction's best kept secret" by the Washington Post--more than makes up for it with literary craftsmanship. The characters are richly evoked, the dialogue smooth and convincing, and the descriptions elegant, even musical.