Quiet Between Heartbeats - Edward Kress

Quiet Between Heartbeats is a dark, atmospheric horror novel about grief, secrets, and the terrifying things that wait in silence. When a young woman returns to a decaying old house tied to a tragedy she has spent years trying to bury, she finds that the past is not dead-it is breathing inside the walls. The house stands alone beneath a watchful moon, surrounded by black water, dead trees, and the weight of memory. But something else is there too. Something patient. Something ancient. Something that has been listening for a very long time.

As the nights grow colder and the line between memory and nightmare begins to blur, she is forced to confront the truth about what happened in that house and the darkness that still lingers there. Strange sounds echo through empty rooms. A child's swing moves when the wind is still. Reflections seem wrong. Footsteps come from places where no one should be. Shadows gather in doorways and linger just a little too long. And with every passing night, the silence becomes more dangerous.

What begins as a return to the past becomes a descent into dread, obsession, and supernatural terror. The house does not simply remember what happened there-it keeps it alive. Because some homes do not let go. Some wounds never close. And sometimes the most horrifying thing is not the scream in the dark-but the quiet between heartbeats, when you realize something is waiting for the next one. Every room holds a fragment of something lost, and every step deeper into the house pulls her closer to a truth she may not survive. In the stillness between one heartbeat and the next, she begins to understand that the evil inside the house has been waiting not just for anyone-but for her.