The Sundowner’s Dance

This work of cosmic terror also delves into some bizarre body horror while also exploring what awaits us all. Retired widower Jerry Campbell is looking to move to a place that doesn’t hold so many memories of his dead wife. Though hesitant, he’s willing to try Fairview Acres, a retirement community where there seem to be a lot of parties at night, as well as rituals that hint at something sinister. Keisling’s (Devil’s Creek) new novel could have leaned on the body horror, focusing on what lives within these characters and bursting out in gratuitous fashion (and a lot bursts out of these people), but he also injects a sweetness into this story by exploring the universal fear of mortality through the book’s older everyman, Jerry. Readers will feel for Jerry as he navigates his wife’s passing, his body literally betraying him, and what his neighbors have planned for him. They will also cheer for him as he fights back.