The Beast of Rogue

In an effort to work on his relationship with his self-involved wife, Joanie, Curt takes their son Tommy to visit his grandmother in Rogue, Montana. Tommy is taken on a fantastical adventure when his grandmother tells him a story about Rogue many moons ago. It starts in the eighteen-twenties with Lucinda, the unhappy wife of an impoverished fisherman, who more than anything wants a child of her own, and will do the unthinkable to get her wish—even kill. Mysterious shadow wolves stalk the forest in search of prey, wreaking havoc and terror on eighteen-hundreds Rogue.

And then there’s Bella, a prostitute who works and lives in The House of the Rising Sun. She desperately wants to escape the people in Rogue with their accusatory stares and condemning whispers. Tragedy strikes when she least expects it, leaving her more alone than ever before.

Clementine, a miner’s daughter, is in love with a young man whose world is very different from hers. The two met there at The Falls, and were drawn together by a similar tragedy. Her father, the miner, has never gotten over the disappearance of his wife, Suzanna. Despite the whispered rumors that she took off and abandoned him and their small daughter, Clementine, he holds out hope that one day she’ll return. Although he swore he’d never remarry, it’s not long before his continued loneliness brings him to The House of the Rising Sun, and into the arms of a woman who bears a striking resemblance to his long-lost wife, Suzanna.

On a cold and rainy night, Clementine and her father receive an unexpected visitor. The miner is surprised to find Bella standing outside their door and even more surprised to learn that she’s carrying his child. Unable to turn her away, he does the only honorable thing and decides to marry her. Bella settles into her new life but finds herself envious and resentful of her stepdaughter, and is overwrought with grief when she suffers a miscarriage. Inconsolable, she refuses to bury the fetus but instead keeps it in a bottle. Blaming both the miner and his daughter for the loss, Bella spends her days and nights brooding, becoming more embittered with each passing day.

The miner is struck by tragedy once more, when Clementine is discovered floating face-down in the deep water of The Falls. Instead of getting sympathy from his new wife, she gloats over his loss and does everything in her power to cause him further misery. He soon realizes that his choice to get remarried has been a mistake, but by now it’s too late. He’s terrorized day and night by the woman he married, and her monstrous unnatural progeny, a child made alive by powers twisted and unseemly. His mistrust of his new wife grows, and soon both he and the town suspect her of witchcraft.

The year is nineteen-twenty. Jacob awakens to a woman of whom he has no memory, claiming to be his wife. He is soon suspicious of her motives. He becomes further unsettled when he meets her brother, Frederick, a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to the shadow wolf that haunts Jacob’s nightmares. A chance encounter with a mysterious silver wolf leaves Jacob with more questions than answers. He’s drawn into a mystery and discovers that brother and sister harbor a much more sinister secret than he ever could have imagined… What happens next will have lasting effects as a clash between good and evil ensues, culminating in a shocking revelation that shakes the town of Rogue to its very core. Rogue and the surrounding forest stir and come alive with ancient echoes from the past, bringing unimaginable horror in their wake. The Beast of Rogue is a magical tale that takes a spine-tingling twist on an old folk ballad.