The Paleontologist

‘Night at the Museum as reimagined by Michael Crichton and Stephen King. . . Luke Dumas’s uncommonly intelligent novels thrill me and move me and thrill me some more’ – A.J. Finn, best-selling Author of The Woman in the Window

A haunted paleontologist returns to the museum where his sister was abducted years earlier and is faced with a terrifying mystery in this chilling novel, perfect for fans of Katy Hays’s The Cloisters and Dan Brown.

Dr. Simon Nealy never expected to return to his quiet Pennsylvania hometown, let alone the Hawthorne Museum of Natural History. He was just a boy when his six-year-old sister, Morgan, was abducted from the museum under his watch. The guilt has haunted Simon ever since. But after the loss of the aunt who raised him, Simon feels drawn back to the place where Morgan vanished without a trace.

But from the moment he arrives, things aren’t what he expected. The Hawthorne is a crumbling ruin and plummeting toward financial catastrophe. Worse, Simon begins seeing and hearing things he can’t explain: strange animal sounds. Bloody footprints that no living creature could have left. A prehistoric killer looming in the shadows of the museum.

Terrified he’s losing his grasp on reality, Simon turns to the handwritten research diaries of his predecessor and uncovers a blood-soaked mystery in the making that could be the answer to everything – if he can solve it before it’s too late.

Praise for Luke Dumas

‘Devilishly smart’ -Kirkus Reviews, starred review

‘[A] stellar debut, a complex whydunit’-Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘Clever, twisty. . . imbued with emotional and psychological insight. . . left me thrilled and looking over my shoulder’ -Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World

‘A delicious walk along the razor’s edge between the imagined and the supernatural’ -Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist

‘Readers, beware: this novel is not safe and will have you questioning what’s real for many sleepless nights to come’- Clay McLeod Chapman, author of The Remaking

‘I consumed this book breathlessly, and every time I think of its jaw-dropping ending, I feel a chill all over again’- Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot

‘A modern-day Gothic tale with claws, it latches into you and doesn’t let go’ -Jennifer Fawcett, author of Beneath the Stairs

Author Biography

Luke Dumas is the author of the novel A History of Fear. His nonfiction has appeared in Literary Hub, Hobart, Last Exit, Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature, and more. He received his master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh and is a graduate of the University of Chicago.