Sarah K. Stephens

Until death do they part... Mary and Jackson are spending their one-year wedding anniversary in a remote luxury cabin. They married after a whirlwind romance, and soon after the wedding, Jackson left for a nine-month work placement halfway across the globe. With her husband back, Mary is determined to make her marriage a success. But everything begins to unravel when Mary reveals the truth about her past and the secret that drove her family apart. When a hike results in Mary almost falling to her death, suspicions she has about her new husband rise to the surface. Surrounded by forest for miles, Mary realizes she is totally isolated with a man she barely knows. As Jackson's devotion transforms into something more sinister and her own mental state deteriorates under the pressure, Mary is left with only one question: Can she save herself before her husband loves her to death?

A Completely Gripping Psychological Thriller

The Anniversary

A woman struggles to navigate a new relationship until a sudden tragedy dredges up her troubled past in “this gripping psychological suspense” novel (Dea Poirier, bestselling author of Next Girl to Die). Morgan isn’t sure about her new boyfriend, Justin. He seems great most of the time, but a recent argument left her feeling shaken. Morgan’s neurologist—who she’s been seeing ever since the hit and run accident she survived as a child—reminds her that she has a bad history of sabotaging relationships. It would be disastrous if she fell back into that pattern. Now Justin and Morgan are taking a romantic weekend getaway. But Justin’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic—and runs the car into a tree. When Morgan wakes up in the hospital to find that Justin is dead, she has little time to grapple with the news before detectives arrive to question her about the crash. The detectives think Morgan is responsible for Justin’s death, and to in order to prove her innocence, she’ll have to unlock the dark secrets of her past.

A Gripping Psychological Suspense Novel

It Was Always You

As a deadly epidemic sends the nation into quarantine, one family must face a killer in their home in this tense and timely mystery thriller. Seemingly out of nowhere, a vicious virus puts all of America on lockdown. In their opulent mansion, the wealthy Stone family is better off than most. But they’re not without their problems. Mark, a former tech industry giant, is now an invalid close to death. His wife Brenna is unravelling more each day. And the children are terrified by the constantly shifting news. Then a member of the household staff starts showing symptoms. As paranoia builds, the family’s fragile bonds are put to the test. But the virus is the least of their worries. Because someone has chosen to use this crisis to take the ultimate revenge . . .

A Gripping Psychological Suspense Thriller Full of Twists

Isolation

“Brilliant, it had me on the edge of my seat and I didn't want to put it down!” —Goodreads reviewer, five stars A shocking crime during a Costa Rican vacation exposes the secrets of a wealthy, troubled couple in this gripping novel by the author of It Was Always You . . . Kate and Calvin are on the trip of their dreams in Costa Rica, hoping to heal their marriage after years of difficulty and loss. When they meet a young newlywed couple at their resort, an attraction develops between the two couples that threatens to disrupt both marriages. After a life-threatening shark encounter, with emotions and adrenaline running high, the couples act on these simmering feelings—and the morning after, Kate awakens to find herself covered in blood, her husband missing, and the young couple dead. As she goes on the run and furiously tries to unravel the mystery of what happened in that hotel room, Kate uncovers connections leading back to her life in New York and the secrets she’s hidden for years. Traveling deeper into the Costa Rican jungle, will Kate find her husband and the answers she seeks—or will her sanity be tested to its limits?

The Good Life

Home should be the safest place, but what if it isn't? When a wealthy family goes into lockdown after a vicious virus sweeps the nation, their fragile relationships are put to the test. Mark, the invalid father and husband, is a wreck. The children are scared. The mother, Brenna, is unravelling. And when a member of the household staff starts to show symptoms, it leads them down a dark and deadly path. Will they all get out of lockdown alive/ Or will isolation be the end of them.

Jack Lothian

M.P. Diederich

Daniel Gooding

Charlotte Byrne

Christopher Calix

Andrew L. Huerta

Oliver Ledesma

Dwayne Martine

Samantha Pilecki

P.J. Schaefer

John Sperry

Ken Teutsch

Michael J.P. Whitmer

Emerging as the dark side of Romanticism, horror is one of literature’s oldest genres. Its history is so diverse it’s sometimes difficult to define. Are moody stories about ghosts and vampires related to gory tales of beasts and zombies? And what about the more realistic terrors of murderous rogues and diabolical doctors? The emotion of fear unifies the 14 stories in First Came Fear: New Tales of Horror. But fear is legion in its varieties. The authors skillfully navigate terror of all types. M.P. Diederich’s “Dressage for Beginners” and Christopher Calix’s “The Wedding Gift” are fine examples of the ghoulish humor tradition while J.P. Whitmer’s “Loved to Death” will frighten you in a stunningly visceral way. Oliver Ledesma’s “Atabey” and Samantha Pilecki’s “Roser and the Guide to the Inexplicable” impart fear through non-traditional storytelling and Sarah K. Stephens’ “The Factory” shows how effectively, and chillingly, horror can tackle social issues. All the stories are accompanied by Luke Spooner’s dramatic art, which combines Gothic macabre with echoes of classic horror illustration. The entire collection will have you gripping the edge of your seat or biting your fingernails, yet leave you longing for more!

Sarah K. Stephens

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