Book Recommendation by Alistair Cross – AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

I’ve often said that if Agatha Christie had chosen to commit murder in the real world, she of all people could have totally gotten away with it – and this book, And Then There Were None, exemplifies that to the nth degree.

In And Then There Were None, ten people are trapped on an island and are being killed off, one by one. Each of them has a horrendous crime in their past – one they got away with … until now. But who among them is taking justice into their own hands?

This is the kind of book you can read in one sitting – and chances are that once you start it, you’ll do just that. This book made me a Christie fan for life. Recommended for lovers of crime, mystery, and whodunits.

For more recommendations, visit Alistair Cross on Bookbub.

Paul Tremblay Talks “Growing Things” on Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

This Thursday, January 23rd, at 8 pm EST, bestselling author Paul Tremblay will be joining us to discuss his latest release, Growing Things and Other Stories. Listen in any time at Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

Paul Tremblay is the author of A Head Full of Ghosts, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, The Little Sleep, No Sleep Till Wonderland, The Cabin at the End of the World, and his latest, Growing Things and Other Stories. He is a member of the board of directors of the Shirley Jackson Awards, and his essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and numerous “year’s best” anthologies. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

Brad Keene Joins Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

Today at 8 pm EST, we’ll be chatting books, movies, Hollywood, and horror with author and screenwriter, Brad Keene. Listen in any time at Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

Brad Keene is the screenwriter of the horror movies The Grudge 3, From Within, and The Gravedancers. His collaborators have included the directors James Wan and Sam Raimi. He’s also the author of the novels Virtual Pet Catchers and Hat Trick.

Jeff Lindsay, Author of DEXTER, on Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

If you missed our show a while back with New York Times bestseller, Jeff Lindsay, listen anytime at Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

Jeff Lindsay is the New York Times bestselling author of the Dexter novels, which debuted in 2004 with Darkly Dreaming Dexter. They are the basis of the hit Showtime and CBS series Dexter.

Book Recommendation by Alistair Cross – SUFFER THE CHILDREN by John Saul

Suffer the Children holds a very special place in my dark little heart because not only is it the first John Saul novel I ever read, but it’s one of the books that initially turned me on to horror. 

And no one does horror like John Saul. His terrorific tales have the ability to make you forget that you’re safe in the natural world – and Suffer the Children is a great example of that. It centers on a tale about a family curse that was begun when, long ago, the Conger patriarch killed his own daughter. 

Now, generations later, Jack Conger has reason to believe the curse is real. When, in a drunken rage, he inexplicably assaults his youngest daughter, Sarah – who consequently stops speaking and slips into her own fantasy world – it seems history is beginning to repeat itself. 

Their older daughter, Elizabeth, takes on a kind of mother-role as Jack and his wife try putting the pieces back together but as the family attempts to heal itself, local children begin to disappear and the Congers’ precariously balanced world is about to come crashing down.   

Suffer the Children is old-school horror, which is to say that it pulls no punches; it doesn’t tiptoe around delicate subject matter and, in fact, seems to relish its ability to disturb the reader. I, for one, appreciate that and recommend this book to anyone who likes a little depravity in their fiction. If you have a taste for turmoil and penchant for peril, Suffer the Children just might be up your dark and shadowed alley. 

For more, visit Alistair on Bookbub

Hal Bodner Returns to Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!

Today (January 9th, 2020) at 8 pm EST, the inimitable Hal Bodner returns to Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE! Listen in any time at: alistaircross.com/guests

Hal Bodner is the author of the best selling gay vampire novel, Bite Club and the lupine sequel, The Trouble With Hairy. He tells people he was born in East Philadelphia because so few people know where Cherry Hill, New Jersey is located. The first person he saw ever saw was the doctor who delivered him, C. Everet Coop, the future US Surgeon General. Thus, Hal was ironically destined to become a heavy smoker.

He moved to West Hollywood in the 1980s and has rarely left the city limits during the past several decades. Hal is so WeHo-centric that he cannot find his way around Beverly Hills, the next town over. Hal has been an entertainment lawyer, a scheduler for a 976 sex telephone line, a theater reviewer and the personal assistant to a television star. He once owned Heavy Petting, a pet boutique where all the movie stars shopped for their Pomeranians. He also owned an exotic bird shop.

This is a copyrighted, trademarked podcast owned solely by the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network LLC.

Visit Tamara and Alistair at: tamarathorne.com and alistaircross.com

EXORCISM: The Ravencrest Saga Book 3 is Available for Pre-Order Now!

EXORCISM, book three of The Ravencrest Saga, is available for pre-order in ebook at Amazon! Order it now and it’ll be delivered to your Kindle on Valentine’s Day – because nothing says I LOVE YOU like demons, ghosts, and kinky sex! The paperback will be available on the same day.

And if you haven’t caught up with the ghoulish goings-on at Ravencrest Manor, books one and two – THE GHOST OF RAVENCRESTand THE WITCHES OF RAVENCREST – are available in ebook and paperback at Amazon as well.

That said, here’s a little more about EXORCISM:

The Devil Comes to Ravencrest …

The Jazz Age 

In the 1920s, Henry Manning ruled Ravencrest with an iron fist. He held debauched parties that would have inspired Jay Gatsby himself. From the Manning fortune to a beautiful wife – the silent film star known as the White Violet – Henry had it all … including a loyal cult that worshipped the demon Forneus. 

Deal with the Devil

Violet lost her life putting a stop to the demented perversions that Henry and his demonic familiar visited upon Ravencrest …  but now that evil has returned. 

The Soulless Child 

In the night, an innocent maid is seduced by a demon lover. A child is born, but it is not of this earth. Father Antonio DeVargas is summoned as ghostly parties light up the old poolhouse and phantom screams rip open the night. Meanwhile, the White Violet wanders the halls of Ravencrest warning the inhabitants of death and disaster to come.

And the current master of Ravencrest, Eric Manning, is decidedly not himself …

Excerpt:

Midnight. The witching hour. Watery echoes in an empty building. The grand Greek Pool at Ravencrest Manor babbles and gurgles as chlorine-scented water flows like cool blood in veins and arteries. The moon, full and high above the arched glass ceiling, shines its light into the cobalt pool, casting splintered rays across the water. 

A spring and thunk from the tall diving board, then somehow, water explodes into the air. The sound ebbs and flows with movement.

But if no human ear is present to hear it, no eye to see it, can these things be real? Or are they merely tricks of light and sound, magic courtesy of Mother Nature? 

Soft golden lamps flicker to life. And then, music, faint but unmistakable, rises and echoes. Eddie Cantor. If You Knew Susie Like I Know Susie.

Laughter. The sounds of a party, of voices, of champagne glasses clinking.

Then something white and serpentine slithers and stirs beneath the water like glistening cold silk, there and gone again in an instant.