Archive for the ‘Thrillers’ Category

We wrote an article over at Risingshadow about what inspired our upcoming thriller, Mother, titled In the Land of Moms and Monsters.

Mother is a psychological thriller in the vein of Psycho and Misery, with a pinch of Peyton Place and a dash of Gaslight. Expectant couple Claire and Jason Holbrook have fallen on hard times, forcing them to move in with Claire’s estranged mother. Claire vowed to have no contact with the overbearing woman ever again, but Mother is thrilled at the prospect of a grandchild.

At Mother’s, Claire and Jason begin experiencing things that make them determined to leave immediately … but when a cruel twist of fate makes that impossible, Claire becomes obsessed with her mother’s motives. Fantasy and fact blur together as her compulsion consumes her, and Jason wonders who the villain really is.

When a cache of macabre family secrets is uncovered, Claire and Jason find the answers they’re looking for – answers that will change them forever … assuming anyone can get out of Mother’s house alive.

Mother will be available in ebook and paperback in April.

MOTHER

 

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A Girl’s Worst Nightmare is Her Mother …

Priscilla Martin. She’s the diva of Morning Glory Circle and a driving force in the quaint California town of Snapdragon. Overseer of garage sales and neighborhood Christmas decorations, she is widely admired. But few people know the real woman behind the perfectly coiffed hair and Opium perfume.

Family is Forever. And Ever and Ever …

No one escapes Prissy’s watchful eye. No one that is, except her son, who committed suicide many years ago, and her daughter, Claire, who left home more than a decade past and hasn’t spoken to her since. But now, Priscilla’s daughter and son-in-law have fallen on hard times. Expecting their first child, the couple is forced to move back … And Prissy is there to welcome them home with open arms … and to reclaim her broken family.

The Past Isn’t Always as Bad as You Remember.

Sometimes it’s Worse …

Claire has terrible memories of her mother, but now it seems Priscilla has mended her ways. When a cache of vile family secrets is uncovered, Claire struggles to determine fact from fiction, and her husband, Jason, begins to wonder who the monster really is. Lives are in danger – and Claire and Jason must face a horrifying truth … a truth that may destroy them … and will forever change their definition of “Mother.”

MOTHER

MOTHER

A Girl’s Worst Nightmare is Her Mother …

Priscilla Martin. She’s the diva of Morning Glory Circle and a driving force in the quaint California town of Snapdragon. Overseer of garage sales and neighborhood Christmas decorations, she is widely admired. But few people know the real woman behind the perfectly coiffed hair and Opium perfume.

Family is Forever. And Ever and Ever …

Nothing escapes Prissy’s watchful eye, nothing that is, except her son, who committed suicide many years ago, and her daughter, Claire, who left home more than a decade past and hasn’t spoken to her since. But now, Priscilla’s daughter and son-in-law have fallen on hard times. Expecting their first child, the couple is forced to move back … And Prissy is there to welcome them home with open arms … and to reclaim her broken family.

Home is Where the Terror Is …

Jason Holbrook loves his wife. He’s heard Claire’s stories about Priscilla, but now it seems Mother has mended her ways, and as he uncovers a cache of vile family secrets, he begins to wonder who the real monster is. Lives are in danger – and Jason must face a horrifying truth … a truth that may destroy him … and will forever change his definition of “Mother.”

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Tonight, on Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE! we’ll be talking to New York Times Bestselling thriller author, Kevin O’Brien! The link goes live at 6pm Pacific, 7 Mountain, 8 Central, 9 Eastern. Just give it a click to listen: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorsontheairradio2/2015/05/08/nyt-bestseller-kevin-obrien-joins-thorne-cross-haunted-nights-live

Before his thrillers landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list, Kevin O’Brien was a railroad inspector.  The author of 16 internationally-published thrillers, he won the Spotted Owl Award for Best Pacific Northwest Mystery, and is a core member of Seattle 7 Writers. In a review of Kevin’s last thriller, TELL ME YOU’RE SORRY, Press & Guide said: “If Alfred Hitchcock were alive today and writing novels, his name would be Kevin O’Brien.” Kevin’s latest nail-biter, NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW, will be released this summer

NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW (to be released July, 2015):

In July, 1970, actress Elaina Styles was slain in a rented Seattle mansion along with her husband and their son’s nanny.  When the baby’s charred remains were found in a shallow grave close to a hippie commune, the police moved in—only to find all its members already dead in a grisly mass suicide.

Now, decades later, a film about the murders is shooting at the infamous mansion.  On-set caterer Laurie Trotter ignores gossip that the production is cursed.  But then people start dying…

As Laurie digs deep into what happened all those years ago, the truth emerges—more twisted than any whispered rumor—and a legacy of brutal violence reaches its terrifying climax.

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TELL ME YOU’RE SORRY

A family is wiped out after a burglary gone wrong.  An executive accused of embezzling kills himself and his loved ones.  A house fire claims the lives of all its inhabitants.  Separate incidents with two common threads—a first wife who took her own life and a secret the victims took to their graves…

Stephanie Coburn had barely recovered from her sister’s mysterious suicide when her brother-in-law and his new wife are murdered, her face disfigured beyond recognition.  Stephanie never met the bride, has never even seen a clear photograph.  But she knew her sister, and she knows something is desperately wrong.

The police won’t listen.  Her only ally is another victim’s son.  Step by step, they uncover a trail of unrelenting vengeance and a killer whose forgiveness can only be earned in death.

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FINAL BREATH (on sale, April, 2015; a re-release from 2010)

A first, the deaths seemed random.  A young Portland couple brutally murdered in a game gone awry…a Chicago woman who plummeted to her death from an office building…an aspiring screenwriter asphyxiated in his New York apartment.  But the macabre souvenirs television reporter Sydney Jordan receives hint at a connection that is both personal and terrifying.

When her husband, a Chicago policeman, gets in too deep with some corrupt cops, Sydney fled to Seattle with her teenage son.  But instead of getting a fresh start, Sydney is plagued by strange occurrences.  Someone is watching, someone who knows her intimately—someone who’s just waiting to play the next move in a twisted game.

She is his chosen one.  Every murder is a sign, and soon, Sydney will understand why each victim had to suffer—and why she’s the next in line.

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