We Are for the Dark

An FBI-agent-turned-Catholic-priest and a junior constable arrive are drawn to a remote island by a missing priest and encounter a supernatural mystery spanning centuries.

This nail-biting-horror with a slice of romantic tension is perfect for fans of religious horror like The Possession of Alba Díaz and The Haar.

An isolated town. A missing priest. An ancient, hungry darkness.

When Father Shane Ryan is summoned to a meeting with His Eminence Cardinal Jacobs, he's confused. A recently ordained priest at a small Maryland parish, Father Ryan has no idea why His Eminence would want to meet him. When he arrives, the Cardinal opens by laying out Father Ryan's past as an FBI analyst. It seems a priest has gone missing, and the case is...unusual.

Weeks ago, Constable Miriam Rideout from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary fielded a frantic call from a priest on a remote Newfoundland island. He begged for help, but then the line went dead, and no one has since been reported missing. When permission to perform a wellness check is denied by her superiors, Miriam takes some vacation time and books a ticket on the ferry.

Thrown together with friendly but cagey locals, Miriam and Father Ryan soon learn that something about the island isn't right. There's a fishing port without boats, a town with no stores and no cars, and strange, bulbous purple wildflowers are growing everywhere. The two don't trust each other, but they begin to learn that an alliance, however uneasy, is a necessity. Because something evil lurks beneath the island--something ancient, eternal, hungry--and neither it nor the uncanny islanders have any intention of letting these newcomers leave.

A growing sense of dread intensifies until it explodes in this pulse-pounding supernatural horror about a buried Vatican secret and two lost souls drawn to a lonely island.

Author: Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Daw Books
Published: 09/01/2026
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.60w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780756400248


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 08/01/2026

About the Author
Gretchen McNeil has been a published young adult novelist since 2011, currently with Disney-Hyperion. Gretchen's novels have been published internationally in over a dozen languages. Ten: Murder Island, the film adaptation of Ten starring China Anne McClain (Descendants 2, Black Lightning) premiered on Lifetime in 2017, and Get Even and Get Dirty have been adapted as the series Get Even and Rebel Cheer Squad a Get Even series for BBC and Netflix. An adult horror short story she wrote for Assemble Media last year has already been optioned by a major studio. Her first adult novel was They Fear Not Men in the Woods, published by DAW in September 2025.