Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Bloodless by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Book Description

Agent Pendergast faces his most unexpected challenge yet when bloodless bodies begin to appear in Savannah, GA, in this installment of a #1 New York Times bestselling series.

A fabulous heist:

On the evening of November 24, 1971, D. B. Cooper hijacked Flight 305—Portland to Seattle—with a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000, and then parachuted from the rear of the plane, disappearing into the night…and into history.

A brutal crime steeped in legend and malevolence:
Fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case: in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia, bodies are found with no blood left in their veins—sowing panic and reviving whispered tales of the infamous Savannah Vampire.

A case like no other:
As the mystery rises along with the body count, Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, race to understand how—or if—these murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history. Together, they uncover not just the answer…but an unearthly evil beyond all imagining.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Bloodless by Doug Preston and Lincoln Child intertwines different genres:  historical, mystery, and science fiction. It delves into an unsolved heist, a brutal crime, and a case involving secrets, lies, and darkness.

The story begins with a true hijacking and theft. In 1971, D. B. Cooper took control of a passenger airliner, allowed them to deplane, and after getting a ransom payment parachuted into the dark Pacific Northwest night, never to be seen or heard of again. Now fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia. Pendergast, his partner, Coldmoon, and his ward Constance, are diverted from traveling to their home by their boss. A strange murder has occurred where a body has been found completely drained of blood. The killer has been dubbed the “Infamous Savannah Vampire.” The heroes must also deal with a team filming a documentary about the haunted places of historic Savannah, an author on a mission to debunk all that, and a narcissistic Senator running for reelection, demanding quick answers about the murders as the body count mounts. At the heart of the mystery is a device that Pendergast claims is the answer to whoever or whatever is plaguing Savannah.

Although Pendergast is front and center, Coldmoon takes a back seat to Constance. The only clue they have is that the manager of the historic hotel, The Chandler House, where they are staying, is the first victim. Constance assists by befriending the reclusive hotel owner, Miss Felicity Winthrop Frost, rumored to have prolonged her life by drinking human blood and seen arguing with her manager. As Constance gains the elderly woman’s confidence, she is shocked by what she finds out, linking everything back to the kidnapping.

A bonus is the vivid description of Savannah. The setting is quaint and atmospheric, dripping with Spanish moss and eerie, foggy mists.

Blending reality with fantasy, readers at time must suspend their beliefs and let their imagination take over. The plot was engaging with engrossing characters.  Some of the plotline is left unfinished and will be wrapped up in the next two books of the series.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  How did you get the idea for the story?

Doug Preston: I have always been fascinated with the D. B. Cooper hijacking case.  It is one of the longest cases in the files of the FBI that has not been solved.  I asked Lincoln if we could base a novel around it that would basically solve the case.  He came up with all these great ideas.

EC:  Why D.B. Cooper?

DP:  It is the 50th anniversary since the hijacking, which took place the day before Thanksgiving. Lincoln and I like to weave together true and weird stories.  We will try to answer did he survive and other questions?

EC:  Why the Savannah Georgia setting?

DP:  Some of it is still in the 19th Century. It is a unique city, especially the historical part.  It has rumors of being a haunted, spooky city, gothic in flavor.  It has tremendous atmosphere with the live oak trees, cobblestone streets, and huge mansions.  The Bonaventure Cemetery with its old tombs was important to the story, especially because it is so huge.  Savannah is a character in the novel.

Lincoln Child:  We both love this city.  We ended our last book with the agent’s plane being diverted here after leaving Florida.  For Coldmoon, this city is foreign to everything he knew about.  It has voodoo undertones, and this is no place like it on the Southern coast of America.

EC:  What about Constance?

LC: I have a crush on her and am not afraid to admit it.  We are not going to abandon her in that very strange unfamiliar place we left her.  This book is the first in what we anticipate being a trilogy.  Pendergast must deal with his own conscience and relationship with her, something we have danced around in the past few books. 

EC:  How about the relationship?

LC:  Dysfunctional.  Unusual.  She can be violent when protecting him and has feelings for him.  He is unsure about his feelings regarding her.  There is tension between the two of them.  She is not the young woman she seems to be.  We hope to resolve her past life and bring closure. 

EC:  There is a dual universe.  Were you thinking about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?

DP:  We did use an Einstein theory, but not this one.  He was the founder of Quantum Mechanics.  It is a legitimate theory. The physical and cosmological underlying properties of nature.  It is believed by Physicists that it happens in different universes.

EC:  Why the Savannah Vampire?

LC:  Our first book Relic was different than the other books.  In that one we toyed with having a supernatural being.  After that we were branded as techno thriller writers with a supernatural edge.  But we are very careful to always begin the books with science and to have a potential scientific explanation to the ending.  We trend middle ground like Michael Crichton.

EC:  It has a theme of greed?

DP:  Yes, on many levels, both money and power.  The Senator in the story who is up for re-election has greed of power.  We had a wonderful time writing his demise. The others who died had a greed of money.

EC:  Your next book?

DP:  Constance’s story will start to get resolved with a lot of action.  We have no title or publication date but probably in the summer of 2022.  Coldmoon will be in book two to a certain extent.  We are not sure about book three.  In both books Pendergast will be front and center where readers can see his arrogance, idiosyncrasies, and impatience with those of lesser intelligence.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Moonlight Becomes You by Robert Herold

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn on the Blackthorn Book Tour to share my Feature Post and Book Review for MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU (An Eidola Project Novel Book #2) by Robert Herold.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media link. Enjoy!

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Book Description

The Eidola Project travels to Petersburg, Virginia, to investigate a series of murders in the Black community—rumored to be caused by a werewolf. Once there, danger comes from all quarters. Not only do they face threats from the supernatural, the KKK objects to the team’s activities, and the group is falling apart.

Can they overcome their human frailties to defeat the evil that surrounds them?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57249183-moonlight-becomes-you?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=DrnLnd4Tlf&rank=2

MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU

  • Genre:  Gothic horror
  • Print length: 209 pages
  • Suitable for young adults? This is an adult book but suitable for mature teenagers 16+
  • Trigger warnings: Some sexual scenes. Supernatural violence. Recollected murder of a child.

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU (An Eidola Project Novel Book #2) by Robert Herold is an intriguing and entertaining historical paranormal horror story set in rural Virginia twenty years after the Civil War. The Eidola Project team come together in Book #1 “The Eidola Project” and while each book has a complete paranormal investigation, I feel it is best to read these books in order due to the continued character revelations and interactions.

Dr. William James and the other paranormal investigators on the Eidola team have been asked to investigate a series of mutilation murders within a small black community in Petersburg, Virginia. The team does not know at first if they are dealing with human monsters riding as the KKK or a true werewolf. It soon becomes apparent they are dealing with both.

This book is such a wonderful mix of paranormal horror and historical reality. The author does an amazing job of mixing and balancing both throughout the entire story. The Eidola Project team is an eclectic group that take their research seriously, but also each have their own very human foibles and weaknesses. All the team members and secondary characters are fully fleshed and time-period appropriate. This book kept me captivated from start to finish even though it is not your typical paranormal werewolf story.

I highly recommend this historical paranormal horror story, series and author!

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About the Author

The supernatural always had the allure of forbidden fruit, ever since Robert Herold’s mother refused to allow him, as a boy, to watch creature features on late night TV. She caved in. (Well, not literally.)

As a child, fresh snow provided him the opportunity to walk out onto neighbors’ lawns halfway and then make paw prints with his fingers as far as he could stretch. He would retrace the paw and boot prints, then fetch the neighbor kids and point out that someone turned into a werewolf on their front lawn. (They were skeptical.)

He has pursued many interests over the years (among them being a history teacher and a musician), but the supernatural always called to him. You could say he was haunted. Finally, following the siren’s call, he wrote The Eidola Project, based on a germ of an idea he had as a teenager.

Ultimately, he hopes the book gives you the creeps, and he means that in the best way possible.

Social Media Link: https://robertheroldauthor.com/

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TVHMNGN

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Drop by Jacy Morris

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing on the Blackthorn Tours Blog Tour for a new unique post-apocalyptic horror/suspense book. My Feature Post and Book Review is for Jacy Morris’ THE DROP.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Blurb

How many hearts can a song touch? How many ears can it reach? How many people can it kill?

When popular boy band Whoa-Town releases their latest album, no one thinks anything of it. They certainly don’t think that the world will be changed forever. After an apocalyptic disease sweeps the world, it becomes clear that the music of this seemingly innocuous boy band had something to do with it, but how?

Katherine Maddox, her life irrevocably changed by a disease dubbed The Drop, sets out to find out how and why, to prevent something like The Drop from ever happening again.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53685550-the-drop

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE DROP by Jacy Morris is a new unique post-apocalyptic horror/suspense book. This new to me author grabbed my twisted-sense-of-humor interest with the premise of a boy band triggering a worldwide pandemic with drop of their new album and surprised me with a thought provoking, intense page turner that I found difficult to put down.

Katherine is a young journalist who is chasing the story of the origin of the Drop so that it can never happen again. Her investigation is laid out in a series of news reports, chatroom conversations, pod casts and in-person interviews.

The three time periods laid out in the book are post-Drop, pre-Drop and during the Drop. With the story investigated out of order to the events. While I normally find the out of order timeline difficult to follow, the author has laid each nugget of information to carry you through the different sections and build the tension and suspense in an easy to comprehend style.

This is a book that is difficult to give you any more information from it without giving away surprise twists that are learned throughout Katherine’s investigation. The ending left an impression and I believe everyone who reads this book will be sharing.

I highly recommend this story and I am looking forward to other readers opinions!

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Author Bio

Jacy Morris is a Native American author born in 1979 in Virginia. He is a registered member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. At the age of ten he was transplanted to Portland, Oregon, where he developed a love for punk rock and horror movies, both of which tend to find their way into his writing. Under the pseudonym The Vocabulariast, he was the writer/owner/CEO of the website MovieCynics.com from 2007-2014. He graduated from Portland State University with a Masters in Education. He has been an English and social studies teacher in Portland, Oregon since 2005.

His first film, All Hell Breaks Loose has a cult following. His second film, entitled The Cemetery People is now in post-production.

He has written several books, including the “This Rotten World” series, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Killing the Cult, and “The Enemies of Our Ancestors” series. The Abbey was his first book under his real name. In between drinking beer and watching horror movies and hockey, he is currently working on the following books: An Unorthodox Cure, and the fourth chapter of This Rotten World.

Social Media Links

Website: https://jacymorris.com/Home

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jacy-Morris-110524983786893/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vocabulariast

Purchase Link

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Jacy-Morris/dp/1674417225

Book Review: Beloved Beast by Karyn Gerrard

beloved beast.jpg

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

WOW! My preconceived notions for this book where blown away. I went looking for a book with a different twist and this was definitely it. BELOVED BEAST (The Ravenswood Chronicles, #2) by Karyn Gerrard is a mix of gothic horror, historical WWII romantic suspense and historical WWII spy novel. Even though this is the second book in the series, it can easily be read as a standalone with all the information the author has seamlessly peppered throughout this book.

The debauched Viscount Ravenswood Lucas Madden died from a carriage race accident in 1895 only to be revived in a Mary Shelley like experiment. Unlike Shelley’s beast, Lucas has become a man with heightened senses, strength and possible immortality, but he has also become outwardly disfigured, and cool to the touch with a strange gray cast to his skin. He hides his face as much as possible and explains away his strange coloring as ‘photophobia vitium’.

Working with his nephew in the emerging MI-6, with his new identity as Luke Newman, he helps relocate returning spies from the war zones in Europe. He is assigned the safety of Gillian Browning, who seduced a German business man for information on the Enigma machine, returned to England, and is suddenly in danger from a German spy.

As the two return to Luke’s former home in the country to wait for transport to Canada, Luke cannot believe that Gillian brings warmth back into is body and life. He never believed he would find love again after the death of his wife. Gillian wants the truth about Luke’s past and no longer wants her time with him to be limited, but the threat to their lives is catching up to them.

I could not put this book down. The concept made it unique and yet it also read as a traditional historical romantic suspense. There is explicit sex, because the beast has a heightened libido and yet it never felt gratuitous. The plot was well paced and the characters where all fully fleshed out and believable, well as far as you can believe in a reanimated man. I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be looking for the next in the series!

Thanks very much to Kensington Books and Net Galley for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Loved it!

Book Review: Night Film by Marisha Pessl

night-film

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

NIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl is the perfect book for October! Part horror, part mystery, part psychological suspense and all around thought provoking, intense read. This one will stay with you for quite some time.

The beautiful, talented and some say disturbed, Ashley Cordova is found dead at the bottom of an empty elevator shaft in a deserted building in lower Manhattan. She is only 24 years old. Was is suicide or was it murder?

Veteran investigative journalist, Scott McGrath has been discredited in the past while investigating Ashley’s father, famed film director, Stanislas Cordova. After a few main-stream films, Cordova disappeared into legend as an underground film director of horror cult classics and a recluse from all society. His life and films are wrapped in darkness, witchcraft, horror and life-changing fear.

McGrath just can’t let this death go. Ashley haunts him. He is driven by revenge, curiosity and a need for the truth that will either destroy him and the ones he loves or set him free.

This book had me engrossed! I loved how the mystery is handled with the reader receiving pictures of all the documents, photos and web pages that McGrath is privy to while investigating the Cordova family. You are masterfully led by this author from extreme skepticism to believing in everything that goes bump in the night and back again. The characters are all fully fleshed and believable. This author knows how to involve the readers’ emotions in every way! Great read!