Grave Matter
Karina Halle
gore, body horror, animal cruelty, off-page animal death mentions of suicide, talk of Alzheimer's, death of a parent, difficulties with being neurodivergent, uneven power dynamics, graphic language, degradation, praise kink, breath play, bondage with ropes and belts, mild BDSM
Grad Student Sydney Denik is getting a second chance. When a dream opportunity presents itself with a prestigious foundation doing promising Alzheimer’s research, Sydney leaves the shambles of her old life to join a dozen other students at an isolated lodge hidden away in a remote, fog-shrouded inlet on Vancouver Island.
But the Madrona Foundation harbors more than brilliant minds. Everyone around her is hiding a terrible secret—including the resident psychologist she’s falling in love with. A student disappears, and no one but Sydney seems to care. Ghosts walk the halls. Snow falls in the middle of summer. Dead animals move like the living. The more Sydney uncovers about the foundation, the more she begins to question her own sanity. And if Sydney isn’t going mad, then the horrors in the surrounding forest are real, and the Madrona Foundation may be the biggest monster of all.