What if it came to the starkest of all choices: kill, or else suffer the loss of a loved one?
This is a re-edited version of a novel originally posted over the winter of 2017-18.
Readers' comments on original version: 'one of the best and most beautifully written stories I've had the privilege to read', 'loved every chapter', 'great read', 'you still come up with twists?', 'very moved', 'you always make me want more', 'wonderful, great, wow, could go on', 'great character development', 'heartbreaking' and many more
Plot: When a pregnant doctor is brutally murdered in her own kitchen, the husband claims to have some weeks earlier received an anonymous and darkly menacing letter. For the small town of Ravensby, it's just the start of a living nightmare - one in which nobody is spared from the murderous cross hairs, and which will drive Detective Inspector Kubic to the edge of his own sanity...
Genre: suspense/thriller
Length: 70,000 words (approx. 275 standard novel pages)
Target readership: Though aimed primarily at adults, the novel features several teenage characters and so may also appeal to a younger audience
Posting schedule: Sundays and Thursdays from the end of November 2019 to early spring 2020.
Extract:
"Warn you sir, not a pretty sight in there."
Kubic took a deep, preparatory breath, his footsteps slow and leaden as he moved towards the kitchen door. Not for the first time over the years, he found himself wishing he'd chosen an entirely different sort of career. Paper-pushing, something out of doors. Anything at all. He'd always been reasonable enough at woodwork back at school, he recalled. Why hadn't he done that, he thought? Become a cabinet maker or some damn thing.
A reluctant hand pushed open the door...
"Oh dear Christ."
The words escaped his mouth forcefully, involuntarily, like blood gushing from an open wound
