Where They Wait: A Novel

Product Description
“Where They Wait is so readable, you’ll be a couple of hundred pages in before you realize you’re terrified…and then you can’t put it down. Mesmerizing.” —Stephen King
“Tense and twisty.” —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries
“A taut, creepy techno-chiller that will leave you hearing ghosts.” —Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song
A new supernatural novel about a sinister mindfulness app with fatal consequences from the New York Times bestselling author of The Chill.
Recently laid-off from his newspaper and desperate for work, war correspondent Nick Bishop takes a humbling job: writing a profile of a new mindfulness app called
Clarity. It’s easy money, and a chance to return to his hometown for the first time in years. The app itself seems like a retread of old ideas—relaxing white noise and guided meditations. But then there are the “Sleep Songs.” A woman’s hauntingly beautiful voice sings a ballad that is anything but soothing—it’s disturbing, and more of a warning than a relaxation—but it works. Deep, refreshing sleep follows.
So do the nightmares. Vivid and chilling, they feature a dead woman who calls Nick by name and whispers guidance—or are they threats? And her voice follows him long after the song is done. As the effects of the nightmares begin to permeate his waking life, Nick makes a terrifying discovery: no one involved with
Clarity has any interest in his article. Their interest is in
him.
Review
"WHERE THEY WAIT hums with creeping dread and mounting horror. It’s smart and scary, and the final act is like that last downhill plunge on a rollercoaster—terrifying, exhilarating, and unforgettable. I loved every page.” -- Richard Chizmar, New York Times bestselling author of GWENDY'S BUTTON BOX
"Compulsively readable . . . Easy to get hooked and hard to forget . . . Pure horror." ―
New York Times Book Review
“Uber-creepy horror thriller . . . Superior prose enhances a craftily twisted plot, which sticks its landing. Peter Straub fans will hope for more from Carson.” ―
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Horror knows no bounds in this supernatural thriller about a new mindfulness app, behind which lurks something much more sinister.” ―
Newsweek
"Readers will be terrified." ―
Booklist (starred review)
"You can't put it down. Mesmerizing." -- Stephen King
"You should read this book." ―
Goodreads
"A creepy horror novel that goes places I didn’t expect, WHERE THEY WAIT is eerie and unsettling and made me side eye my mindfulness apps." ―
The Library Ladies
"If you’ve ever suspected that your relaxation app was secretly trying to kill you, this is the book for you." ―
New York Post
About the Author
Scott Carson is the pen name for a
New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter. He lives in New England.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
1
I was never a dreamer.
I mean that in the most literal sense. Figuratively speaking, I absolutely consider myself a dreamer. Aspirational, at least. Optimistic? To a point, although my profession—journalism—mandates a certain cynicism. When I say I was never a dreamer, I mean at night, in the depths of sleep.
No dreams. Just didn’t have ’em. Not good, bad, happy, or sad.
Slept well, though. I slept well. That’s hard to believe these days, but I know that it was true once.
People talk about their dreams all the time. I dated a woman for a few years who would wake up and recite the bizarre and vivid stories that had accompanied her through the night. Sometimes, I’d be tempted to pretend that I could share the experience. Dreaming seems normal, right? Seems like something that
should happen to all of us. And yet we don’t know much about the mechanisms of dreams, for all of our scientific research and psychological theorizing. We believe dreaming is tied to memory, that REM sleep is an archival p