When young Harry Collins discovers a black womans body, mutilated and bound to a tree with barbed wire, he unleashes a storm of dread. With his younger sister, they fix their suspicions on the legendary horror called the Goat Man who, the locals say, lurks beneath the swinging bridge that crosses the Sabine River. More real than any child could ever imagine, the creature holds the key to a string of brutal and confounding murders and a chilling truth scarcely glimpsed beyond the thick woods and tornado-ripe skies.

• Mystery