Book picks similar to
A Debt to be Paid by Patrick Lacey
horror
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4-star
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Highwater
T.J. Brearton - 2014
He needs a blood transfusion and only one person matches. But first Milliner must solve the mystery at the Kingston house, where Liz Goldfine may have committed a heinous crime, and the dark depths of the lake harbor teenage secrets.Groups of strange young men are gathering on the roads, the old house holds many mysteries, and the waters are rising fast. What lurks deep in the lake and can anyone stop it?
Dead Stripper Storage
Bryan Smith - 2018
He’s a shy social outcast with no real friends. His luck with women has been spotty at best. A hostile work environment has made his life a living hell for months on end. For Pete, the weekend comes as a welcome respite from these things, but early Saturday morning he finds a beautiful and scantily clad dead woman on his couch. He has no idea who she is or how she got there. Is this a frame-up? Did he kill her in a blackout? Answers to these questions are elusive at first, but then the last woman he ever dated shows up on his doorstep out of the blue and things get seriously complicated from there. Blood is spilled. More bodies pile up. Pete is pushed to his limits as he is forced to do many strange and horrible things. A deadly game is being played and Pete is the ultimate pawn, with his fate coming down to a race against time.
Last Seen Leaving
Catherine Lea - 2018
Now she's blind and runs a failing law practice out in the burbs.But when Frank goes missing in New Zealand and the ransom note tells his mother not to call the police, Syd just may be the only one who can find him.Is Syd just driven by honor? Or is she trying to prove that she's still good enough? And when the first dead body turns up, can a blind woman see what everyone else has overlooked?Or will she be next on the killer’s list?A gripping thriller that will have the pages turning into the wee hours.
The Witch
Fred Anderson - 2021
Desperate to avoid reliving the traumatic memories of his father’s death, Ryan begs for a way out.Fortunately, Grandma Wendy's best friend Dot offers to keep the siblings for the afternoon, and despite her misgivings Lisa agrees to let the old woman take them. But as all three Campbells soon discover, Dot isn’t the sweet lady she appears to be. She’s bent on revenge for her own traumatic memories—and has all the powers of hell at her command to get it.Author's note: The Witch is a novel for adults, and contains brutality, bloody violence, death, explicit language, sexual innuendo, children in peril,and terror.
Moorlands Murders
Oliver Davies - 2020
The York police call it a suicide, so it's up to Mitchell to clear his dead friend's name. Little does he realize that, in this sleepy town, lies a web of deceit, blackmail, and murder, one that now endangers him and everyone he cares about.
Accidental Evil
Ike Hamill - 2015
During long summer days, the residents barely have a care. They almost never have to worry about the rise of a bloodthirsty demon who wants to feast on their flesh and enslave their immortal souls. Almost never.
"Another brilliant tale from Ike Hamill."
Scary and fun, Accidental Evil will grip you with a bloody fist until the astonishing conclusion. Join Ricky as he battles the evil that descends on his home town. This year, the tourists won't be taking home trinkets and fond memories. They might not be going home at all.
The Faceless One
Mark Onspaugh - 2013
In 1948, when he was just a boy, Jimmy Kalmaku trained with his uncle to be the shaman of his Tlingit village in Alaska. There he learned the old legends, the old myths, the old secrets. Chief among them was that of a mask locked in a prison of ice, and of the faceless god imprisoned within: a cruel and vengeful god called T'Nathluk, dedicated to the infliction of pain and suffering. Now all but forgotten in a Seattle retirement home, Jimmy finds his life turned upside down. For when an unwitting archaeologist pries the mask free of its icy tomb, he frees T’Nathluk as well. Stuck in spirit form, the Faceless One seeks a human to serve as a portal through which he can enter our reality. The Faceless One can control—and mercilessly torture—anyone who touches the mask, which means there is no shortage of slaves to ferry it across the country to its chosen host. Yet the Faceless One has foes as well: Stan Roberts, a tough New York cop whose pursuit of justice will lead him into a dark abyss of the soul; Steven, Liz, and Bobby, the family of the doomed archaeologist; and Jimmy Kalmaku, who must at last become the shaman of his boyhood dreams.
Asylum Lake
R.A. Evans - 2010
Through its doors came the weak and the weary, the disabled and the discarded, the frail and the forgotten. But an open door is an invitation, and some visitors, once invited, are loath to leave. The hospital abruptly closed in 1958 under a cloud of mystery. It has remained empty and silent, save for the memories trapped both within its walls and far below the surface of the nearby lake that bears its name. At the bottom of Asylum Lake, the unremembered are growing restless. Brady Tanner is trying to outrun memories of his own. After the sudden death of his wife, Brady retreats to the small town where he spent the summers of his youth. But he soon learns small towns can be stained by memories... and secrets, too. As Brady is drawn into unearthing these secrets, as he discovers a new love in an old friend, he is also drawn into the mystery of Asylum Lake and the evil that lies submerged beneath its sparkling surface. What is the source of this evil - and what does it want with Brady Tanner?
Secrets to the Grave
Steve Frech - 2021
Deep bruises encircled the neck, but the most unsettling feature was the eyes, which stared lifelessly upwards. That was the moment the woman began screaming.When a teenage girl is found dead on a quiet suburban street, Detective Meredith Somerset is haunted by flashbacks to the day her little sister vanished—the day Meredith should have been watching her. But with a murder to solve, she doesn’t have time for painful memories to cloud her judgement.The victim is shoeless, the only clue to her identity a small silver medallion hidden in her grass-stained sock. Did she run from her killer across the smooth lawns of Willow Lane? And if so, how did no one in the surrounding houses see or hear a thing?Meredith needs answers, or she’ll never shake the image of her sister’s face begging her for help. But Willow Lane has more than one mystery behind its doors—and to find the killer, Meredith must venture into a community that’s determined to keep its secrets hidden at any cost…A nail-biting crime thriller with a shocking twist, perfect for fans of Harlan Coben, Robert Dugoni and Lisa Regan.
The Lost and the Damned (The Banlieues Trilogy)
Olivier Norek - 2020
Anonymous letters addressed to him personally have begun to arrive, highlighting the fates of two women, invisible victims whose deaths were never explained. Just two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.Olivier Norek's first novel draws on all his experience as a police officer in one of France's toughest suburbs - the same experience he drew on as a writer for the hit TV series Spiral.Translated from the French by Nick Caistor
Whiteout
Gabriel Dylan - 2019
About things that lived in the woods. Things that only came out at night.’For Charlie, a school ski trip is the perfect escape from his unhappy home life. Until a storm blows in and the resort town is cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped on the mountain, the students wait for the blizzards to pass, along with mysterious ski guide Hanna. But as night falls and the town’s long buried secrets begin to surface, the storm is the least of their problems….A chilling RED EYE horror, perfect for fans of Dawn Kurtagich, Juno Dawson and Charlie Higson.
Flowers for the Dead
C.K. Williams - 2020
I am their cautionary tale.
Nineteen years ago Linn Wilson was attacked. Seventeen-years-old and home alone, she’d been waiting for her friends to arrive when she heard the doorbell ring. But when she opened the door, Linn let in her worst nightmare. The culprit was never found.
It was someone I knew. I am going to find out who did this to me.
Now, Linn is determined to get to the bottom of the night that changed her life forever. Returning to the village where she grew up, she knows that someone must know something. The claustrophobia and isolation of small town living means secrets won’t remain secrets for long…
A wonderfully tense and gripping suspense thriller that will have you hooked! Perfect for fans of D.K Hood’s Detective Kane and Alton series and Sheryl Browne.
The Swordsman of Tanosa: A Short Tale of the Middle Sea
Duncan M. Hamilton - 2014
5,000 words (16 pages).For Bafion, there is no farther to fall. Once a banneret, officer, and gentleman, he is none of those things now. He is a swordsman who has slipped through the cracks of society and is eking out an existence as a thug for hire.Bafion is presented with the opportunity to reclaim some of what was lost to him, but to do so will mean facing part of his past that he would rather forget.The Swordsman of Tanosa is a swashbuckling fantasy short story set in the same world as the Society of the Sword trilogy.
Alessa's Melody: A Psychological Gothic Horror Novella
Jayson Robert Ducharme - 2019
His fragile world falls to pieces upon the arrival of a young girl, who possesses a special and familiar talent that threatens to drive Louis over the edge.