Praise for Thickafog, the first in the Archer Island Series:

“A stunning literary mystery. Mason burrows deep into the narrator’s battered psyche and Archer Island’s community, and paints nuanced portraits of his main characters without ever letting the intrigue slacken.”

— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Thickafog is insightful and beautifully written. There were so many things I liked about the novel, including the description of the island and its people.”

— Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist

“Thickafog gets Maine island life right. We care about the characters. Mason keeps us engaged while twisting the threads of his story into a satisfying ending.”

— The Maine Sunday Telegram

Copy Block:

In this follow-up to Thickafog, a dangerous mental patient escapes to Archer Island seeking revenge against her abusive stepfather and holds her elderly rental hosts captive in their remote farmhouse.

Millicent Kilvert has led a tragic life of mental illness, culminating in her being sent to an insane asylum to live out her life. She manages to escape and after killing her mother heads for Archer Island in late-November as a big coastal storm rolls into Maine. She rents the attached bungalow in an old farmhouse owned by an elderly couple, Hilda and Evan Olson. Evan leaves his wife alone with the renter as he takes the ferry to the mainland to help their pregnant daughter move into a new home. Hilda and Evan are excited to become first-time grandparents and are unaware of their renter’s past.

That first night as the storm rages, Hilda hears strange noises coming from the attached rental unit. When she creeps downstairs to investigate, what she finds will change her life forever as she is stuffed into the flooded crawlspace by Millicent. Will her husband Evan be able to make it back in the storm to save her? Can Hilda convince her hallucinating guest to let her seek help?

The Last Renter is a psychological thriller exploring serious dissociative mental illness and paints a sympathetic portrait of a tragically damaged young woman.