Over the past few years, Keith Rosson has been an automatic-read author, so Crone was not to be missed. Once again, Rosson out-does himself mashing a gritty crime story together with supernatural horror to craft a novel that was nearly impossible to put down.
Eli Lamp is a broken man. An ex-detective, ex-addict, and long-grieving father whose daughter, Hannah, disappeared a decade before, Eli decimated his old life investigating her abduction and is now indebted to the Crooked Wheel, a local drug gang, as an enforcer. He lives in a rundown trailer at the edge of the woods, where he keeps Hannah’s room in pristine condition and tries to make it through one day at a time.
But when the son of the Crooked Wheel’s boss is found viciously murdered in a crime scene that doesn’t seem to add up, Eli receives a new order: Find out who the killer is and your debt to the Crooked Wheel is clear forever. You’re free. This pursuit brings him into the orbit of Avery Bryant, Hannah’s best friend and the last person to see her before she went missing. Soon, Eli and Avery are entwined in a hunt for answers that spans decades, stretches the realm of possibility, and brings churning to the surface a conspiracy linking not only these current tragedies but the buried sorrows of Eli’s past.
And though none of them dare say the word witch, at least not out loud, something lurks in the woods, bent-backed and black-eyed, clawed and vengeful, looming ever closer…
There are times I enjoy a story that just is there to frighten you, but most of the time these tales are the ones that sink their claws into me and won’t let go. Rosson not only writes a story that is unsettling and unnerving, but one that deals with real-life horrors such as drug addiction and the aftermath of a missing child. These real-world struggles are what makes this story resonate beyond the witchy aspects and will be the reason it ends up on people’s year-end lists.
About halfway through I couldn’t help but get the vibes I felt while reading Rosson’s books such as Fever House and A Devil by Name. Which, in my opinion is one of the best feelings to have. The Fever House duology is one of my favorites over the years and to recreate at least some of the feelings I got from reading those books, while also adding to it, is fantastic.
As with Rosson’s other works, Crone is filled with characters of the morally questionable nature. Characters that might work outside the law, even those who once were part of the law, as well as those who are not dealing with the grief as well as one would’ve hoped. Even with totally different lives, I couldn’t help but feel attached to these characters and wishing for a positive ending, but I knew before that could even be a thought, these characters were about to go through some shit.
Crone is more proof that Keith Rosson has cornered the crime-horror genre as a modern voice of horror. Crone is a tension-filled, grief-stricken, spooky horror that is nearly perfect from start to finish. Rosson is an auto-read, Crone doesn’t change that.
Crone hit bookstores everywhere on September 22, 2026 from Random House. The audiobook, narrated by Pete Cross, is available via Libro.fm!
