How about Play Time Burgers: I know I won’t be jumping into any ball pits.
Bored: Sometimes being bored is a good thing.
Still Waters Run Deep: The lake is hungry and it demands to be fed.
Bus Load Of Trouble: Have you ever played the game where you are trying to guess what the person’s occupation? You never know who you’ll meet.
The Plan: Not every plan is a good plan.
I Dream Of Death: Is it a dream….or is it real?
The Shut In: Who tossed the mannequin onto the front porch?
The Cabin: Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Hello: Is a drabble, a one hundred word story.
Breezy: A Novella: I had an idea of what was going to happen and I know I would never want to be so isolated.
Evil is an anthology that contains nine short stories and one novella. Kevin Bachar can spin a terrifying tale and make you think twice about your preconceived ideas. Sometimes I laughed and sometimes I thought WT….
4 Star
GOODREADS BLURB
Ten-year-old Cassie is playing in the ball pit at the local rundown fast-food palace when she feels something bite her leg and doesn’t want to let go.
The passengers on a cross-country bus trip make a stop that will change the lives of everyone on it, and reveal that one of the riders is hiding a horrific secret.
The locals in a remote mountain town know about the wind that supposedly can kill people; they avoid it at all costs. But when a young college meteorologist comes to study it, will he heed their warnings?
From the writer who brought you the best-selling short story collections DREAD, CREEP, and CURSED, comes a new set of tales that will force you to lock the doors and turn on the lights. EVIL forces you to confront the most terrifying element in our world – EVIL. In each story, we see how it manifests and then consumes those who dare to think they can battle it. In this book, GOOD doesn’t triumph over EVIL, it runs away and cowers under the bed and hopes and prays it goes away and never comes back. Can you handle something that is filled with pure EVIL?
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Novella, Short Stories
232 pages, Paperback
Published September 22, 2025
ABOUT KEVIN BACHAR
Kevin Bachar is a national EMMY award-winning natural history documentary filmmaker and WGA writer. The elevated horror film he wrote – The Inhabitant – https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/the-inh… – was released through Lionsgate and is available on most streaming services.
If you’ve watched National Geographic, PBS, or The Discovery Channel over the years you’ve seen his work. He’s the idiot in the water filming sharks or crawling into caves to photograph vampire bats. You can see Kevin at work filming sharks here – https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2703407897/…
The natural world has always captured his imagination and the supernatural world inspires his stories. Through his journeys, he’s interviewed scientists who’ve enlightened him, heard folk tales that have frightened him, and seen quite a few things that have challenged his skeptical mind.
His collection of short stories that weaves together the natural world and the supernatural world entitled, DREAD, is available on Amazon. He’s currently working on his second collection entitled – CREEP.
Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it…and who knows the repercussions that come along with it. With the holiday season approaching, people awoke with a million pounds in cash under them, where they lay sleeping. I love how Kit Power shows how the threads are woven, connecting so many characters together. AND, Kit sure isn’t shy about killing off his characters. He did manage to piss me off a time or two, but other times, I was happy with the result.
Millionaires Day by Kit Power is a quick read. I found the concept intriguing and I wasn’t disappointed. As the bodies fell, I wondered how Kit would wrap up the ending. I feel good about it.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
On Sunday, 22nd December, 2019, everyone in the United Kingdom woke up with one million pounds in cash under their beds.
The miracle – or catastrophe – was never adequately explained. In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic the event was largely forgotten or treated as an urban legend.
Until now.
In this explosive volume, investigative journalist/historian Kit Power finally blows the lid off that surreal, impossible morning. Focussing on a few residents of Milton Keynes, a uniquely diverse city northwest of London, Power lays
– the wonder of waking up to a found fortune through the eyes of a neglected child
– the madness and panic of an unprepared public from the perspective of an overworked police officer
– the graphic terror inflicted by a band of reprobate gangsters for whom too much is never enough
– the strangeness of it all through the outlook of man’s best friend
for legal purposes, this book is marketed as fiction. But no one who lived through it could deny the profound impact of…
Genre: Fiction, Horror
247 pages, Paperback
Published September 23, 2024
ABOUT KIT POWER
Kit Power is an author of horror and dark crime fiction novels, novellas, and short stories; also a reviewer, essayist, and podcaster. The Finite, A Song For The End (BFA finalist, 2021), and Millionaire’s Day (BFA Finalist, 2025) are his most recent fiction works; three novellas with interconnected elements that bring the apocalypse to his home town of Milton Keynes in three very different ways. He encourages you not to read too much into that.
When he’s not gleefully visiting (fictional) destruction on his hometown, Kit writes non-fiction, much of which is collected in My Life In Horror Volumes I and II (BFA Finalist, 2023), reviews, blogs, and podcasts on subjects as diverse as Sherlock Holmes, Bruce Springsteen, and short horror fiction (as one half of The Ultimate Horror Anthology with Jasper Bark). Check out his Patreon for the free newsletter.
The Bugged cover caught my eye, but when I read the novella, it wasn’t what I was expecting. Once I finished reading it, I had second thoughts. Bugs do crawl out from under rocks, and in our current climate, I think that is where you may find many of the people who could represent the characters in Alan Barysh’s novella. The vomit spewed on the pages sickened me, but it happens every day in real life. In fact, I think it represents our current climate. I grew up in the Vietnam era, and what Alan shares with us is truly frightening…and some of it really happened. I don’t understand people that are so bigoted, racist, and down right hateful.
I won a copy of Bugged a long time ago (probably in 2016, when it was published). Sorry it took me so long to get to it Alan. 🙂
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Bugged is the first part of a trilogy called A Book of Struggles (In the Form of Fables and Parables for Modern Times). In Bugged, we meet William Tell, a radical/revolutionary book publisher, and his nemesis Vincent Seita. Mr. Seita confronts Mr. Tell with an extortion threat and the reader is left wondering what William Tell would do. The rest of this book deals with Vincent Seita and his early childhood up to when he returns from the Vietnam War. Throughout this book, many sub-plots weave in and out that make this book a stream of conscious story in the style of the television series Lost. Although it was written before Lost made its debut.
I love the wonderful cover for The Witches Of Hant Hollow: Jonathon’s Curse by D F Jones. I also like the cute witch that’s at the head of each chapter. I picked it up on a free day, which I discovered through her newsletter. A perfect book for the upcoming Spooktacular season.
The characters run the gamut, from the best of the best, to the worst of the worst. It has an especially intriguing villain in Iris, the matriarch of the Doanhart Coven. We have poor Jonathon, who D F Jones puts through the wringer, and Jasmine, who’s heart is so big, she will sacrifice herself for the good of all. AND, there are a lot of peripheral characters that have an important part to play. We, also, have many supernatural characters that make an appearance.
The story begins in 1915 Rockvale, Tennessee. The action moves the story along, sometimes at a fast pace, other times the characters have a chance to treasure a moment in time. There is plenty of romance to go around, as the characters struggle to find their soul mates and overcome the obstacles put in front of them.
D F Jones has crafted a fantastic tale of magic and mayhem and I definitely want to continue my journey with The Witches Of Hant Hollow.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Wickedly thrilling fast-paced tale of a family of witches power struggles over light and dark magic, and how one mortal man gets caught in the crosshairs of the feud causing upheaval in not only Jasmine’s love life but rife within the American Mage Alliance.
Will Jasmine save Jonathan at the risk of losing the one she loves most?
USA Today Bestselling Author, D. F. Jones began her career as a broadcast consultant at the ABC Affiliate in Nashville, which led her to open an advertising agency. Over the years, she’s created many campaigns for clients but fell in love with writing fiction.
Writing is a source of creative expression for DF. Jones, but it also releases stress. Writing takes D.F. Jones to a place where anything is possible, and fiction takes her to a place made of dreams..
Whether it’s angels or demons, time travel adventures, witches and wizards, mystery suspense, or ghosts, her books are action-packed with supernatural and romantic elements.
I love a good start to a book, and Robert Dugoni’s Prologue for Her Deadly Game had me hooked from the opening page.
Keera Duggan is a prime example of why you don’t cross professional boundries in the workplace. Because her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly, she was pushed out of her job as a Seattle prosecutor. She feels she has no choice, but to return to the family criminal defense law firm.
Keera was a professional chess player, and it will take all her moves to save her client from a life sentence. I do like the push pull of whether what she is doing is right or wrong. Her father, Patsy, an esteemed defense lawyer until alcohol took over his life, keeps stressing to her that it is her job to give the client the best defense possible and it is the prosecutor’s job to convict him.
This was going to be the game of her life.
I had a feeling about what happened, I just couldn’t figure out the how of it. Guess you can find most anything on Google.
It didn’t take me long to get involved in Keera’s world. The characters and scenarios are realistic and the book was impossible to put down. The mystery and suspense kept the story flowing at a rapid pace. The deeper into the story I got, the more I was determined to find out the ending before going to bed…and I made it.
In the acknowledgments, Robert Dugoni shares that he likes to give each novel a challenge. In Her Deadly Game he creates a dysfunctional family, and a character, Keera, who escaped a future of alcoholism by becoming a chess prodigy. He knows that some lawyers are very good chess players and I think he wove the game throughout the story with panache.
I want to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.
Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.
Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.
As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.
Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 11 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and The Keera Duggan legal thriller series. He has written several stand-alone novels including the historical novels A Killing on the Hill and Hold Strong, as well as the suspense novel The 7th Canon, and Damage Control. He has written the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – one of Newsweek Magazine’s Best Books of All-Time and Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. He has also written the critically acclaimed novel, The World Played Chess; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. His novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a four-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.
Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than thirty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.
The blade slices deeply into her neck, and arterial spray sweeps across her vision.
OMG. With a start like that, there is no way I could pass up a chance to read Her Buried Past by Carolyn Arnold. I wonder how Detective Madison Knight will handle all the blood. Even though she has an aversion to blood, she wanted to be a cop, like her grandfather.
Madison is married to Troy, a SWAT commander for the Stiles police department. She had lost a baby eleven months earlier. She never considered herself as the maternal type, but if she would have had the baby, she would have cared for it, loved it as only a mother can. I can relate to Madison eating cold pizza for breakfast. I do it too. I love when an author includes moments that make the characters come to life.
Her partner, Terry, is married to the love of his life, Annabelle, and has an eighteen months old baby girl, Dani. He is a proud papa.
Sidney is a new age therapist, believing in past life regression. But, she has secrets. As Madison and Terry dig into her life, the secrets are exposed, putting them in danger.
At the end of the book, Carolyn Arnold poses a question:
Did the twists and turns catch you by surprise, as they did Madison, and keep you flipping the pages.
You betcha. But, that’s no surprise to me. I expect that from Carolyn Arnold. She breaks her mysteries down and take us step by step to the conclusion. She does put those twists and turns into her novels, drawing me in, making it hard to put the book down until the last page is read.
My thanks go out to Carolyn Arnold, Hibbert & Stiles Publishing, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review Her Buried Past.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
The blade slices deeply into her neck, and arterial spray sweeps across her vision. She puts her hand over the wound, feeling the fight already leaving her. In a moment of surrender, she must believe something marvelous will come after she takes her last breath. Otherwise, she’ll be left with nothing but the blackness that is edging in.
After therapist Sidney Callahan is found dead in her home office, Detective Madison Knight drives out to her remote cabin. Also used as a spiritual retreat to explore past-life regression, the otherwise peaceful property stands out in stark contrast to the messy murder scene. With signs of a struggle but no forced entry, Madison must figure out who would want to harm this woman.
Madison soon discovers that Sidney had planned to release a book featuring her patients’ past lives, and she suspects one of them didn’t want their secrets exposed. But as Madison and her partner, Terry Grant, dig deeper, they make the shocking discovery that the therapist had her own dark past.
As they continue their investigation, Madison and Terry must navigate a web of lies and danger. But just as they are inching closer to the truth, someone tries to stop them with deadly force. Will they be able to bring justice to Sidney? Or will they become the next victims?
Expected publication October 8, 2025 by Hibbert & Stiles Publishing Inc
Series: Detective Madison Knight #14
ABOUT CAROLYN ARNOLD
CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has several continuing fiction series and has many published books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from police procedurals, hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures. Her crime fiction series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining. This led to her adopting the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower.
She currently lives near London, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two beagles.
The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens sounded like Tom and Alice bit off more than they could chew. I felt like very bad things were headed their way, I wasn’t sure what twisty turns they would have to travel and whether or not they would come out of the experience whole.
Alice and Tom have hit a rough patch in their marriage and Alice has a lot of baggage she struggles to get past, as she tries to navigate her way back to Tom. She felt Tom was making a mistake when he offered Ocean and Blue a ride to the next town. She should have paid attention to her instincts. I felt a sense of anticipation, an eerie feeling that there was a shit load of bad that was going to come down on them.
Up in the front, Alice spun the radio dial. Jenny’s thoughts flipped into new fears. She hadn’t thought about the radio. Would they be on the news?
Wondering who Jenny is? Think about it. Who names their children Ocean and Blue? It had me wondering what they did. What are they running from?
Tom…well, he spends most of the trip in serious straits. As they move from town to town, things only become worse, more frightening for Alice. How many bodies will drop? How can anything end well for Ocean and Blue? I felt empathy for Blue, but…
The ending, I thought something like that would come about, but I wasn’t sure how we would get there. I loved it. And when the facts for their life on the run are fully explained, well, I didn’t see that coming. I was surprised, but it also made perfect sense. A cornered animal will be forced to defend itself.
I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
On the remote Canadian highways in 1976, Tom and Alice set out to heal their fractured marriage. An RV, a new beginning, and the hope of recovery after a devastating tragedy. Then they meet two young hitchhikers, Ocean and Blue—a seemingly innocent couple who aren’t who they seem. . . . They are Jenny and Simon. And they have left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them. Now Tom and Alice are trapped—prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. But as the tension builds and the lines blur, the question becomes, In whose heart does evil truly lie?
A chilling, twist-laden ride to the final page—THE HITCHHIKERS is a master class in suspense and shock.
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 7, 2025 by St Martin’s Press
ABOUT CHEVY STEVENS
CHEVY STEVENS lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s spending time with her family and their two dogs. Chevy’s debut novel, STILL MISSING, was a New York Times bestseller and won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Her books, including THOSE GIRLS which Stephen King called “incredibly scary” have been published in more than thirty countries. Her seventh novel, DARK ROADS, is now available. Please visit her at www.ChevyStevens.com.
Cora died on Devil’s night – sacrificed by the man she loved.
A picnic. In the darkness. I know that can’t be a good thing.
With a start like that I felt I was going to love to ride the revenge train with Cora. She is going to make Chad pay…does she ever. Her desire to strip Chad of everything he traded her life for, knows no bounds. I love books that deal with a woman ‘scorned’.
The crossroads demon that brought her back, wants her. I didn’t see that coming and I wonder…with the demon get the girl?
We alternate between three points of view: Chad, Cora, and the Crossroads Demon.
Kat Ensmore got the idea for Samhain Sacrifice from a meme. I wonder if you will search for it like I did.
Him: aww babe look at you, getting all romantic with all of these candle.
Me: First of all, I’m about to sacrifice you.
An author never knows where inspiration will come from.
Looking for a Halloween book to get in the proper mood? Look no further. Samhain Sacrifice has all the gruesome and demonic moments that I require in a horror story. Want a good haunting to entertain you? You will find it here. Samhain Sacrifice by Kat Ensmore may be a quick read, but it was chock full of horrorlicious moments sure to entertain those that are not faint at heart.
Soooo, why don’t you join me?
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Cora died on Devil’s night—sacrificed by the man she loved.
Ten years later, she’s back, resurrected by a seductive demon and bound to a ticking clock. With just days before the veil between worlds seals shut, Cora has one chance to make Chad pay for what he did.
But revenge has a price.
The demon who brought her back wants more than blood—he wants her. And as their twisted connection deepens, Cora finds herself torn between the fury that fuels her and the fire that consumes her every time he’s near.
She was born to burn him to the ground. But if she’s not careful… she’ll go up in flames with him.
Samhain Sacrifice is a dark Halloween themed novella written for mature audiences and is recommended for readers 18+ for adult content, situations and language.
Katya Ensmore resides in rural Saskatchewan with her #writingbuddy a Great Dane aptly named Khaos. When she is not spending time with Khaos, she can be found writing or hiding behind her iPad buried in the digital pages of a book.
When it comes to literature and film, she enjoys all things supernatural. She has been writing since she was a child. She currently has several works in progress with hopes to publish more in the near future.
The title, Girl Lost, struck me first, then the cover and blurb finished me off. I knew I had to have Kate Angelo’s latest novel.
The lead character, Luna Rosati, is fascinating. Her drive and determination took her from a pregnant teen to a CIA counterintelligence officer. Her drive and determination made her the person she is, and it will serve her well when she returns to her hometown, looking for the child she gave up.
The father of her child never forgot her, and when she returns, all those old feelings rise to the surface. He is now Corbin King, a Special Agent. He took the name of the man who saved both Luna, and himself from going down a path of self destruction. Stryker.
Stryker is kidnapped before Luna even has a chance to talk to him. The Commissioner’s child, Carlie, is missing. And Trinity, who Luna believes may be her child, is missing too. But there’s more. How these storylines come together is not for the faint of heart.
The Chiron BioInnovation Center will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. It makes me wonder what is happening in the medical field for real. Can they manufacture human parts? Sure can. But, where do you draw the line? How about organ transplants? How far will you go when YOUR life is on the line?
The Christian angle is subtle and flows smoothly throughout the story. No preaching here.
The action starts from the opening pages in Girl Lost, a thoughtprovoking novel, with twists and turns that are sure to entertain. I love Kate Angelo’s ability to lead me down a path with an abrupt turn that makes me wake up and smell the coffee. I got too complacent, at times, thinking I knew what was coming. Just because I have read hundreds of romantic suspense novels, doesn’t mean an author can’t surprise me, and that is why I keep coming back for more.
4 Stars
SYNOPSIS
The King Legacy
A LOST BABY
Luna Rosati found acceptance and comfort with her childhood foster family, but when she became pregnant at sixteen, she gave the baby up for adoption and left without a word. Now a CIA counterintelligence officer, Luna wants to reconcile her fractured sense of self by finding the only blood family she has–the teenage daughter she’s never met. As Luna closes in on learning the girl’s identity with the help of her mentor, Stryker, she prepares to meet him in her old neighborhood–the last place she wants to be. Then Stryker is captured.
AN INESCAPABLE PAST
Special Agent Corbin King changed his last name to escape the shadow of his convicted father serving a life sentence. When he runs into Luna, the object of his failed teenage romance, the two must put their pasts aside and work together to expose a secret that someone’s willing to kill for.
A DEADLY THREAT
But when they encounter a kidnapping, missing bodies, and murder, the secrets Corbin and Luna are keeping from one another are only the beginning of the threat they face with more than their own lives at stake.
A gripping Christian romantic suspense thriller with CIA intrigue, second chances, and found family. Perfect for fans of clean thrillers, faith-based fiction, and emotional page-turners by Lynette Eason, Colleen Coble, Jessica R. Patch, and Charles Martin.
Praise for Kate Angelo:
“Kate Angelo skillfully unveils the savagery of greed under the pretense of good.” ~ DIANN MILLS, bestselling writer
“An exciting story that will capture readers’ emotions while also taking them on a pulse-pounding, suspenseful roller coaster ride they won’t soon forget.” ~ NANCY MEHL, author of the Erin Delaney Mysteries
Girl Lost Trailer:
Book Details:
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense Thriller Published by: Revell Publication Date: September 23, 2025 Number of Pages: 336 pages, Paperback ISBN, Pbk: 9780800746636 (ISBN10: 0800746635) Series: The King Legacy, Book 1 Book Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | BookBub | Baker Book House
Read an excerpt:
From Chapter 1
“What are you doing here, Luna?” The honeyed tone he’d used on the waitress morphed to granite.
“Since when does the FDLE investigate missing persons?”
“Since when do you talk to Stryker? Or any of us, for that matter?”
“Why do you keep answering questions with another question?” Although she knew good and well she’d started it.
The squiggle of a blue vein bulged at Corbin’s temple, and she kind of enjoyed it. “Since we gave our baby up for adoption. Since you cut me out of your life.” His finger stabbed the table to punctuate each sentence. “Since you left town without a word and never looked back.”
Another crack formed. His words knifed her heart. Images of a teen beggar girl on the streets of Pakistan played through her mind. The one with dark hair and eyes that mirrored her own. The girl’s striking resemblance to herself had brought Luna back to the time when she held a tiny life in her arms. The baby girl she’d given up—not because she wanted to, but because she refused to let her child suffer the life she’d had.
The daughter she’d brought into being was somewhere out there in the world, and she needed Stryker to tell her where.
The pang cut deep, but Luna gathered her composure and locked her emotional armor down tight. She wasn’t the only one who’d walked away. “You broke up with me, Corbin. You told me you didn’t want to be a father. You made that choice. I just made sure our daughter had a future.”
The skin around his collar flushed crimson. She could see his neck straining. “I can’t believe you—”
A sharp glint of light flashed through the storefront windows. Whatever Corbin was saying faded into nothingness. She watched Stryker emerge from his rusty old Jeep parked across the street. His hair, a blend of salt and pepper, hung in a knot at the nape of his neck. Aside from the silver strands, he looked like the same athletic man she’d known when she was a teenager.
Years melted away. She saw the man who’d seen the good in her, even when she was a mess of anger and bad choices. The man who’d taken a lost and confused girl and forged her into something stronger, something more. He’d pulled her back from the edge, shown her a different path. And somehow, against all odds, the rebellious girl who’d once cursed every cop in sight had become a government agent.
He’d challenged her, pushed her, never let her give up on herself. And she hadn’t. Would he still recognize that girl in the woman she’d become?
A black SUV slammed to a halt outside. Doors flew open. Three dark figures jumped out, faces swallowed by masks, bodies muted by black tactical gear.
Guns. They had guns.
Luna was on her feet before she knew what was happening. Her brain put it together on the fly. Outside. Help Stryker.
Corbin’s chair scraped back. Clattered over. He was on her heels.
Stryker wouldn’t go down without a fight. With his reflexes, he could disarm a shooter and break a few bones faster than she could blink. His resistance would buy them the priceless seconds they needed to get outside.
One man pointed a Taser at Stryker and squeezed the trigger. Two barbed probes shot through the air and embedded into the back of Stryker’s neck, sending fifty thousand volts of electricity screaming through his body. The other two men caught him under the arms before he hit the sidewalk and hauled his limp body into the back seat.
Luna and Corbin burst outside. Shouts. A woman screamed. But Luna’s eyes were laser focused on the dark vehicle. The doors slammed shut.
Corbin had his gun out. “Police! Stop or I’ll shoot!”
The SUV’s engine roared. The vehicle lurched forward, tires shrieking, grabbing traction. It fishtailed, sideswiping two parked cars. Then it swerved back on course, speeding down the street. It blew through a stop sign and disappeared around the corner.
Bits of red and yellow confetti littered the street and sidewalk. Luna crouched and used her fingernail to scrape up a few of the tiny round dots.
Corbin sprinted half a block chasing after the vehicle before he stopped. Feet set shoulder width apart. Knees flexed. Arms extended and ready to fire.
She marched over and slapped her palm on the muzzle of his gun to shove the barrel down. “Put that away. You can’t shoot into a busy street at a fleeing vehicle.”
He was breathing hard. “No plates. They wore masks. Should be able to get surveillance footage and interview witnesses.” Like her, Corbin was already thinking of the next steps.
She had her phone out, thumb hovering over the screen. The secret code used to send secure cables to the Agency wouldn’t work on this plain smartphone. The only person whose number was stored in this one had just been kidnapped.
Corbin muttered something Luna couldn’t hear. He had a hand on his waist. The tail of his blazer was pushed back, showing the gun in its holster on his hip. He rattled his name, badge number, and their location into his phone. “I’m reporting a confirmed kidnapping in progress. Requesting immediate backup and notify detectives.”
With Stryker gone, she had no reason to stay. Time to start searching for him. She did an about-face and went back inside.
Angie was on the phone in hysterics. It’d be a wonder if the dispatcher could make sense of the gibberish behind her sobs. Luna marched to the table and picked up her purse. Paused long enough to drain her lemonade and toss a twenty on the table before heading back outside.
Corbin fell into step beside her, phone still pressed to his ear. “Where are you going?”
She kept walking.
“Hey, you can’t leave a crime scene.” He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
She caught his hand in a wrist lock and rotated his forearm until his knees buckled. “You’ve gotten slow in your old age.” She flashed a thin smile and shoved him, releasing her hold.
Corbin stumbled a few steps. The look on his face was almost worth the agony of seeing him again. She turned and headed for her car.
The last person she’d ever wanted to see was Corbin King. Not here. Not now. Not ever.
“Luna! You can’t just walk away. Luna!”
Stryker was not only her mentor but a father figure. She wouldn’t stand by and let someone hurt him. Besides, he was the one who’d arranged the adoption. Handled everything himself, outside the system when she was too young and emotionally wrecked to question the details. Back then, she hadn’t wanted to know. Convinced it was better that way. But that had changed.
Now, without Stryker, she had no way to find the only blood relative she had left. And after everything she’d lost in Pakistan, she could not afford to lose anything else.
The weight of it all didn’t matter.
She would save Stryker.
She would find her daughter.
And she would do it without Corbin King.
***
Excerpt from Girl Lost by Kate Angelo. Copyright 2025 by Kate Angelo. Reproduced with permission from Kate Angelo. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
Kate Angelo is the Publishers Weekly bestselling author of Hunting the Witness, Selah Award winner of Deadly Holiday Hijack, and Amazon Top 100 Bestseller of Driving Force. Kate works alongside her husband championing stronger marriages and families. Her journey from foster care to bestselling author fuels her fast-paced romantic suspense, where flawed characters discover hope and healing through life’s fiercest trials and relationships. When she’s not putting fictional people through the wringer, she’s out creating real-life happily-ever-afters at conferences and events nationwide.
And the pendulum dipped closer,the blade swiping empty air, ready to strike.
That is only the beginning of the diabolically, horrifically, grotesque tortures that will be heaped upon the captives and let loose on humanity, if evil wins.
John, a bright, young boy, lives near the abandoned house, but he insists it is no longer abandoned and there is a vampire burning dead bodies. Captain Carver is convinced that he saw something, so he investigates. Lori feels Marc needs her help and is returning to Sleepy Hollow. As they draw together, Wren and The Man In Black are making plans of their own. Marc is caught between good and evil, and I wonder if he can survive. I mean, look at the cover. He looks pretty bad to me. LOL
Book II picks up where Book I left off. The series needs to be read in order. Each book delves deeper into the evil that surrounds Sleepy Hollow. Can good conquer evil? The anticipation levels rise as I get deeper and deeper into the series.
The portal is opening and the demon horde feels the veil between worlds thinning.
How far will you go to save the one you love?
On to Book III of The Sleepy Hollow Incident by P D Alleva.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
In the dead of winter, Sleepy Hollow becomes a crucible of blood, desire, and damnation.
Marc Saduj thought surrendering his soul would save Lori Francon. Instead, it delivered him into the hands of the Man in Black—a demon whose torture chamber fuels a cosmic gateway to hell itself. Trapped between waking nightmares and the cemetery ether, Marc drifts further from the man he once was, his heart chained to darkness.
Far from the blood-soaked snow, Lori tries to rebuild her shattered life on Long Island. But grief is a relentless phantom. Haunted by Marc’s memory, manipulated by her mother, and entangled in uneasy alliances, Lori cannot shake the feeling that her fate remains tethered to his. Even in comfort and privilege, shadows press closer, hinting that the past is not done with her.
As medieval tortures erupt beneath the snow-drenched woods, Detective Carver races to untangle the blood-soaked trail. A young boy haunted by visions of his dead mother glimpses horrors no child should see. And each new sacrifice brings the celestial alignment closer, thinning the veil between this world and Xibalba.
The portal is opening. The demon’s army is stirring.
Equal parts gothic romance and unflinching horror, The Sleepy Hollow Book Two is a fever dream of forbidden love, infernal bargains, and cosmic terror. Perfect for fans of Anne Rice, Shirley Jackson, and The Haunting of Hill House, this haunting continuation how far will you go to save the one you love—when their soul may already belong to hell?
Genre: Angels and Demons, Dark Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Supernatural
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 28, 2025 by Chamber Door Publishing, LLC
Series: The Sleepy Hollow Incident #2
ABOUT P D ALLEVA
I write books, that’s what I do. Horror, scifi, thrillers, fantasy, and sometimes a literary gem. Good ones, crazy ones, fun books, entertaining books, terrifying books that are absolutely insane, books with depth and thrills, and stories that rip out the heart of humanity and tosses it on a slab to be feasted on. Yeah, that’s what I do, I write books. Any questions?
My current projects include: the Pulp Fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy series, The Dark Veil:The Rose Vol. III; the horror thriller novella series, Girl on a Mission; the supernatural thriller series, The Hypnotist; and a follow up to Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect, tentatively titled The Sleepy Hollow Incident.
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