Michael Wehunt has written his most chilling and powerful novel to date. NIGHTJARS is far from a formulaic vampire tale and will keep you questioning everything straight through to the shocking finale.

Luke Oshel is on a first date with Colette Rosenau, who excuses herself to the restroom. When a long time goes by, he realizes that he may have been ghosted. He finds a Polaroid she left for him under her napkin with this quote: “Does the nightjar remember the night?” Nightjars are nocturnal birds, but they function as a symbolic reference for something completely different in this book.

"NIGHTJARS is a stunning and unnerving read that I will not forget as Wehunt delivers from start to finish."

The picture is dated 1993 and depicts a child, who he soon realizes is himself, sitting on a mattress covered in blood with what looks like a dead body in the background and a masked man. Among the many questions that cross his mind, he wonders who snapped the photo and why Colette had it. This is just the first of several moments in NIGHTJARS where Wehunt sends chills down your spine.

Luke runs an independent bookstore and is divorced, with limited custody of his daughter, Sophia. Following his encounter with Colette and the Polaroid, he reaches out to his ex, Kristen, and his best friend, Alice, who understand his fear due to his unique background. 

From an early age, Luke believes that his late father was a serial killer known for claiming his victims via exsanguination. So much of this experience is lost to his own memories. He has suffered from bizarre dreams and endured years of traditional therapy and hypnotherapy to attempt to unlock the answers --- ones that he still seems to be denying.

When the body of a local woman, the first of many, turns up with the same earmarks of his father’s murder spree, Luke begins to wonder if he himself may have had something to do with this. He also questions if his father is really dead. Either way, the police are interested in speaking with Luke. But when he disappears, they rely on the now-pregnant Kristen, who worries for him but mostly fears that harm may come to Sophia.

Luke has gone off in search of answers to both the past and present unsolved murders that continue to haunt him. The truth eventually will come out in a series of old journal entries, eerie pages from a novel that speaks to centuries of similar killings, and the true meaning of the word “nightjar.” When all is revealed, it hits like a hammer and induces a nightmare no one could have predicted. 

NIGHTJARS is a stunning and unnerving read that I will not forget as Wehunt delivers from start to finish.