Summertime. A mysterious sickness. And a sleepy small town awakens to the unimaginable."A strikingly original idea" - Douglas Preston, New York Times Bestselling Author Welcome to Winslow, Washington, where all anyone expects is another ordinary summer: Tourists taking the ghost town tour, locals cooling off in Ruby Creek, the carnival in Prospect Park. Nothing unusual. That's because residents here have always done well at keeping order, keeping secrets and keeping the past buried.Until now. When a mysterious plague of madness strikes in July 2010, Hazel Winslow is stunned as the people she has known all her life become sudden strangers. Her brainsick father, the Sheriff, disappears into the woods in pursuit of a creature threatening their town. Hazel's boyfriend Sean Adair takes a haunted journey with his own delusions and guilt. Ghosts storm her grandmother's neglected mansion. And Hazel - terrified of falling ill and losing her mind too - watches the entire town unravel around her.Inspired by true events. Set in a small town hidden in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The Winslow Incident is a modern Gothic tale informed by historical accounts of entire villages gone mad. What really triggered the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials? Why did the residents of Pont-Saint-Esprit suddenly lose their minds? And how does it feel to be the last sane person in town?A Daphne du Maurier Award Nominee for Excellence in Mystery SuspenseOn Library Journal's list of First Novels | Fall Fundamentals - and "First novels that promise good reading."