No Such Country by Gary Crew

In the isolated town of New Canaan, the mysterious Father reigns like a god. He alone interprets the signs and lately there have been many.
Eva Burgess's death is a sign, so the fater says. For Eva's daughter Rachel it is the end of her education and her dream of getting away - now there is no one the sheild her from the Angel, the Father's disciple, who wants to claim her for his own. Then comes the stranger,Sam Shadows, whose arrival is called 'the sign of the one who walked in'. Sam is seeking his own roots and with Rachel's help he begins to unearth the truth, not just about himself, but about the Father and his sinister role in the town's grisly past.

The idea for the plot was a good one, but it just didn't quite work. The author falters a bit in blending the paranormal with the prosaic, and his narrative swerves from being interesting to wondering what he is on about. I read the beginning and the end and skimmed the middle.