As Halloween approaches, a mysterious girl named Claudia returns to the small town of Haven, Texas. Paul Graves, a childhood friend, discovers the way to her dark heart is through a lunchtime investigation of a series of local murders. Their research soon leads them to the discovery that Paul’s father, a former sheriff, and his uncle, a local priest, have a thirty-five-year-old connection to the serial killer. When the killer targets Claudia and his family, Paul must overcome his own limitations to confront an ancient evil that spans generations.
In the grand tradition of Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, HALLOWED tells the story of a young man’s journey to adulthood and his ultimate confrontation with good and evil, life and death, love and sacrifice--a terrifying carnival ride with dark treats at the end.
Still the bestselling of my 3 novels since its publication in 2012, but I would like to open it up to new foreign markets to drive sales back up. Currently running a free promotion for this title and its rank is presently #75 in the Mystery, Thrillers, Suspense Police Procedurals category.
1
It was Monday afternoon the first day of my junior year of high school when Claudia came back into my life.
Halfway through fifth period band practice, I noticed the small dark shape up in the bleachers, sitting in the shade of the announcer’s box. At first, I thought it was just a random couple giving each other CPR, but the closer we got to the stands, the more the shape looked like an individual. Just before the end of class, the shape strode down the stands, a baggy black shirt flapping in the wind, long black hair flowing out behind from beneath earbuds. The girl carried a notebook and a wadded up brown lunch sack that she hooked into a trash barrel from several yards away.
I stared up at this spectral creature with fascination, as did most of the trumpet section around me. The girl reached out behind her, snagged her hair with practiced precision, and wound it into a loose knot. She flipped it back and disappeared into the shadows like a ghoul.
Greg Hebert sidled over to me, lowering his cornet. “What was that?”
My mouth opened and I started to tell them it was Claudia, when suddenly I wondered how I could be so sure given the fact that I hadn’t seen her for seven years (which, to a teenager, translates to an eternity). If it was Claudia, she had morphed into a completely different creature than the one I remembered.
“New girl. Had her for second period English,” Sonny Bertrand responded, clearing out the spit valve of his cornet.
“Sonny, you were here back in third and fourth grade, weren’t you?”
I got a blank stare in return.
“That’s Claudia Wicke. Remember?”
His eyes glazed over. Finally, he asked, “Oh, is that Hallow?”
A chill passed through me.
