Sineater

Bram Stoker Award: First Novel winner (1993).

According to legend, the sineater is a dark and mysterious figure of the night, condemned to live alone in the woods. He may come out only when a death in the community occurs. As the mourners turn their backs in fear, the sineater devours food from the chests of the dead, thereby absorbing the sins of the departed and freeing the soul to enter heaven. Yet in a small mountain town, the order has been broken. The sineater has a family of his own, even though they must avert their gaze on the rare occasions he visits them. With the violated taboo comes a rash of horrifying events. But does the evil emanate from the sineater, his family, or from an even darker force?