{"product_id":"the-dread-edward-w-class-9798316882694","title":"The Dread","description":"If you turn out the lights at night, the ghosts of a haunted slaughterhouse and Mr. Rat can visit you in the dark... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUnpopular Maryland Democratic governor, Derrick Coulton, is forced to do a Democratic primary for reelection against a telegenic, trust fund multimillionaire. During his campaign, traumas from a concealed childhood, centered around a slaughterhouse, emerge in vivid nightmares. Soon, he begins to actually glimpse and hear his hostile, deceased step-father, and his psychopathic step-brother, a warped maniacal killer of animals as if they were still alive. He destabilizes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt the same time, his lieutenant governor, Brittany Brenner's son, begins to receive nighttime visits from something that calls itself Mr. Rat. Terrified of rats, they suddenly appear around her. She traces these occurrences back to two sparsely populated mountain counties of her childhood, where a terrifying form of Appalachian witchcraft, known as the Dread, is practiced. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs the terrors intensify, the governor is forced from office following a suicide attempt, and Brittany ascends to the governorship, where she discovers that Maryland's Democratic Party establishment is against her, and supports her now primary gubernatorial opponent. After her husband leaves her, she becomes alone, isolated except for one trusted aide and Baltimore City's mayor, a former Catholic priest who has a knowledge of witchcraft and the exorcism ritual. Brittany must go to those counties of her past to confront whatever lives there to save both her son and herself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Edward W. Class\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798316882694\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/05\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 254\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.76lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.58d","brand":"Edward W. Class","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49000787575039,"sku":"9798316882694","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-dread-edward-w-class-9798316882694","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}