“The Nature of the Beast” by Sharon Gosling

The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories (2018) edited by Stephen Jones

Readers unfamiliar with The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories may prefer to read these notes only after reading the anthology.

Detective Cassie investigates a series of disappearances in Cumbria, leading her to a derelict farm and a confrontation with a black-eyed child.

Setting: Rural Cumbria, England, with a focus on a derelict farm and the surrounding fells.

Characters: Cassie Wish, a detective sergeant; DI Eddie Evans, her superior; Nick, Cassie's abusive husband; Liv, Cassie's sister; the girl, a feral child with a dark secret.

Halloween seen as: Boundaries between the human and the monstrous blur, exposing questions of survival, abuse, revenge, and other complexities of human nature.

Style: Dark, atmospheric horror, with a focus on the ferocious realities of rural life and abuse. A potential for violence lurks beneath every surface.

Point of view: Third person, primarily from Cassie's perspective.

Jay