The Ashes by Vincent Zandri

Book Description:
HORROR IN THE DARK WOODS 
It’s been eight years since artist and single mom, Rebecca Underhill, was abducted and left to die in an old broken down house located in the middle of the dark woods. But even if her abductor, Joseph William Whalen, has since been killed, another, more insidious evil is once more out to get her in the form of the Skinner. The son of an abusive butcher, Skinner intends on finishing the job Whalen started but failed at. 

How is he going to get to Rebecca? 

He’s going to do it through her children, by luring them into the cornfield behind the old farmhouse they live in. 

HORROR IN THE DEPTHS 
Now, armed with the knowledge that the Skinner has escaped incarceration at a downstate facility for the criminally insane, Rebecca must face the most horrifying challenge of her adult life: Rescuing the children not from a house in the woods, but from the abandoned tunnels that run underneath her property. 

But the Skinner is watching Rebecca’s every move. 

Horrifying question is, will she live long enough to save the children? 

My Thoughts:
Oh my!  This horror/thriller will keep you glued to the pages from the start.  Rebecca survived an abduction years before and her abductor is dead.  The nightmare is just restarting for Rebecca though.  The kids see the boogeyman in the cornfield and the horrors are real.
I'm not sure I was ready to read this one.  This is the second book in this series, but as I hadn't read the first, this read well as a stand alone. It was good, suspenseful, well written and terribly realistic book!  I say this mainly because it had me reading but feeling the 'creeps' while doing so, and so all the lights had to be on.  The author does great work with crafting the scenes so you feel that you are in them.  If you are a fan of extreme suspense with some horror mixed in, this is absolutely your book.  Most of the horror for me was the suspense and 'edge of your seat' type scenes but there are some kinda gross parts.  Even so, it was written really well and is absolutely one that will stay with me for a while yet.
It was a 4/5.  I love the way the author writes and look forward to more of his work.

Thank you to the author for the review copy of this book (via PUYB).  I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.