Scott Hawkins’ debut novel, 2015’s The Library at Mount Char, is both macabre and horrific in ways nearly unimaginable — Clive Barker and Jack Ketchum might blush — while also being endearingly, achingly human in the best way of us. Hawkins deftly navigates horror and absurdities with deadpan humor and earnest humanity (often using a lioness as a stand-in to do so, no less!).

Book Review: The Library at Mount Char