Spook

Spook is an American young adult horror novel, and the first hardcover publication by author Steve Vance, who will later go on to write The Hyde Effect. The book was published by Berkley and released in both hardcover and mass market paperback on November 1st, 1991.

The point of view character of the story is Lola Aragon, a former New Yorker who relocates to rural Georgia following a divorce and finds work as a high school administrator. She soon hears tales of MaryAnn Nelson - a local girl born with hideous deformities who lives with her overprotective mother in the woods. The tale of MaryAnn Nelson gives rise to many local prejudices and Lola hears stories of a strange hooded woman seen running through the forest like an animal. MaryAnn's sordid reputation grows as a pair of teenagers decide to break into the girl's shack, only to meet a grisly end. News of the attacks sparks the formation of a mob, who are hungry for blood, but the question of MaryAnn's guilt still hangs in the air.