Bonechiller by Graham Mcnamee

For Danny Quinn and his father, Harvest Cove is just another stop along the road. The Quinns have been on the run for a couple of years now and each town along the way is smaller and more remote than the last. The problem is, they’re trying to outrun a memory.
Ever since Danny’s mother died, he and his father have lived in a self-enforced emotional void. They try not to talk about her, try to avoid even thinking about her. It works for a while, then they move on. They arrive in Harvest Cove, in the outer reaches of Ontario, in late fall and all too soon it’s bitter winter.
In this tiny town, Danny makes an unlikely trio of friends: the brothers Slater, psychotic Pike and nervous Howie; and fierce Ashley Animkee - army brats all who know what it feels like to be constantly moving. Even though Danny feels shattered by his mother’s death (“It’s like trying to glue a grenade back together after it’s gone off. There’s too many sharp and twisted little pieces.”), he does find moments of peace in this little town. At least, he does before the beast comes.
Walking home after a wild night out with his friends, Danny encounters something huge, menacing and completely inexplicable. The beast knocks him into a ditch and stings him with its tongue. When Danny comes around, he convinces himself that he slipped and fell into the ditch, that the blow to his head caused him to imagine things.
The comforting explanation unravels when Danny finds a track in the snow. Then Howie has his own terrifying encounter with the beast. Soon, both of the boys are changing. If they don’t figure out what the beast is and how to kill it, they could be lost forever.