The Loney

I had the worst time finding this book in the library catalog, because I kept typing in "Lonely", adding an "L". Don't you hate when your brain stuffs letters in where they don't belong?
At any rate, I read a really great review for this book in "Entertainment Weekly". It sounded right up my horror loving alley, so I checked it out. It was...okay. A bit odd for my taste, I think.
The narrator is a man named Smith (I don't think we ever learned his first name) who is looking back on a trip his church made in the 1970s to a remote English countryside where there's a shrine that his mother is convinced will heal his older brother, Andrew, who is mute, possibly developmentally disabled in some way (he didn't go into specifics). The church is recovering from the sudden death of their long time and much beloved (although very hard nosed) priest. While they are staying at this remote countryside house known as the Moorings, Andrew and his brother run across some sketchy people staying in another remote house.
I'm not sure what to say about this book. It was definitely very well written, and very atmospheric, I could feel the cruel, cold wind and the bitter salt air, the way he described it. Like I said, I think it was just a bit too odd and maybe a bit too subtle for my taste. I like my horror more straightforward.