Chapter 8, August Summary

The men of Tarker's Mills are gathered in the town barbershop on a hot Saturday morning in mid-August. Everyone is on edge because tonight the moon will be full. Constable Lander Neary has everyone's attention as he discusses his theory about the killer. Neary does not believe that there is an actual werewolf or any kind of animal among them, but rather a seemingly normal person - perhaps someone they all know. He goes on to say that this killer might not know what he's doing, but he's an animal on the inside and a normal person on the outside, and when the moon gets full, he kills someone.

The other men bring up the case of Marty Coslaw, who has given a deposition to the state police about what he saw. He described a "beast" about seven feet tall, naked...