The Night of the Hunter (novel)

The Night of the Hunter is a 1953 thriller novel by American author Davis Grubb. It was a national bestseller and finalist for the 1955 National Book Award, and was adapted for the screen in the critically acclaimed 1955 film directed by Charles Laughton.

Written with Southern Gothic elements, the novel features an itinerant preacher, and serial killer, named Harry Powell who learns that a bank robber hid a large amount of stolen cash before he was arrested. After the robber is hanged, Powell woos his widow and finds that only her two young children know where the money is. Powell marries her, commits uxoricide, and then "hunts" his stepchildren who had promised their late father they would never reveal the money's location.