SOLVED. Horror: Deadly Attacks on a Family. Title may contain Spawn. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[Anne]

I probably read this in the early 1990s. I seem to remember that the cover had a girl or young woman sitting on a hill, not realizing scary things were nearby. But I could have confused it with a similar cover.

I thought the title contained the word "Spawn." But I can't find it in an Amazon search, only tons of other books with that title. It's not the Shaun Hutson book, unless the synopsis is wrong. I don't think it's Spawn of Hell by William Schoell (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...).

What I do remember is that the book took place on the extensive property of a family. Some kind of strange creature was attacking and killing family members. There is a relative (uncle of the main character) who is a doctor, and he takes care of the family members.

SPOILER:

At the end, it turns out that the uncle's idea of treating fertility issues was to secretly impregnate a number of his families. As a result of incest, some members of the younger generation were prone to become Jekyll/Hyde types with an urge to kill people.

This is not a V. C. Andrews novel. The incest was discovered at the end rather than being a bigger part of the novel. :)

[Anne]

OK, I found it after all. Amazon was no help at first because it wasn't coming up when I searched horror or mystery/thriller.
Once I thought I might have the author's name, I had to use the advanced search and the surname and the title.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044...

Goodreads has it but without the cover art:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Apparently it's a collector's item now. :P

[Andria]

Glad you found it, Anne. Here's the GR link The Spawn. I've just added the cover art to the GR record, it may take a few minutes before it shows up.

[Anne]

Thanks! It's showing up now.

I swear, the woman on the cover was younger in my memory. But this makes sense because she was an adult in the book.