Category: Suspense/Thriller

Book Tour/Feature Post and Mini Book Review: Blackout by J. Luke Bennecke

BLACKOUT

by J. Luke Bennecke

September 7 – October 16, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BLACKOUT (Jake Bendall Thriller Book #3) by J. Luke Bennecke on this Partners In Crime Virtua; Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Godd luck and enjoy!

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Book Description

THE LIES SHINE BRIGHTEST WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT.

The assassination was only the beginning. When the President of the United States is killed in a coordinated drone strike, the nation spirals into chaos. But this isn’t terrorism. It’s strategy.

Behind the attack stands a brilliant and ruthless leader of a shadowy global cabal known only as New3—a group convinced the age of American dominance is already over.

They’re just speeding it up.

Their plan is devastating in its simplicity:

  • First, kill the president.
  • Then cripple the nation’s power grid.
  • Finally, plunge the United States into darkness long enough for rival superpowers to make their move.

Civil engineer Jake Bendel never expected to be part of that war. As one of the architects of America’s AI-driven energy grid, he helped design the very system now being turned against the country.

As blackouts spread and order begins to fracture, Jake teams up with FBI agent Kristi Konnors to follow a trail of digital clues—only to uncover a conspiracy far bigger than a cyberattack. One that could hand America’s collapse to China and Russia.

Then it becomes personal.

Evidence emerges that Jake’s wife, Cynthia—presumed dead for years—may still be alive, trapped inside the organization behind it all.

Now Jake is running out of time. Because if the lights go out across America, the invasion won’t be far behind. And the system he built may be the only thing that can stop it.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250526767-blackout?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=sBNV3I2oia&rank=2

Blackout

Genre: High-Concept Thriller
Published by: Jaytech Publishing
Publication Date: October 6, 2026
Number of Pages: 436
ISBN: 9798990527386

***

My Mini Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

BLACKOUT (A Jake Bendel Thriller Book #3) by J. Luke Bennecke is another fast paced, action-packed techno thriller/geopolitical thriller addition to this series featuring an unlikely hero, civil engineer Jake Bendel. With the character carryover and overarching plot of a global cabal trying to take over the world, I feel this series is best appreciated and enjoyed if read in order of publication.

This plot starts with a bang and does not let up. Jake is once again pulled into a world of super villains, that are a bit over the top, but fun to read about. Even as the characters are exaggerated to the edge of belief, the main terrorist plots are always terrifying and quite believable. Jake is a brilliant engineer and while he is mentally handling fighting the cabal better than in previous books, with the help of a new female FBI character, a huge twist involving his dead wife has been thrown into the mix.

I recommend this addition to this exciting thriller series that always leaves me more informed, but also more worried about terrorist engineering threats to our country.

***

Excerpt

FACTS:

1. The United States power grid is divided into three largely independent systems, considered one of the most complex machines ever built with over 160,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. Large portions of the grid infrastructure are decades old.

2. Modern societies rely on electricity for nearly every critical system including: water treatment plants, fuel pipelines, telecommunications networks, hospitals, and transportation systems.

3. GPS signals are surprisingly weak and vulnerable to interference.

4. The largest blackout in North American history affected 50 million people in August 2023 involving eight states and Canada.

5. Small inexpensive drones can now carry lethal payloads.

6. The U.S. military (under DARPA’s OFFSET program) have tested drone swarm “curtain” formations.

CHAPTER 1 

Friday, September 27 – 8:49 a.m. –

AIRPLANE #1 – Private Gulfstream Jet – Coast of Venezuela

The day was perfect for flying, sipping Russo-Baltique vodka—and an assassination.

In exactly eleven minutes.

Ominous black clouds churned miles beneath the Gulfstream cruising high above the Atlantic. Far away, 1,600 miles north, thick fog rolled across the runway at Tampa International Airport—with Air Force One descending on approach.

Tracy strode the cabin aisle, air thick with sweat and heavy leather. Her smartwatch pinged. Florida ground team: Eight minutes to launch. All good.

Fiddling with her charcoal pearl necklace, she eyed the dozen technicians, each tracking a sliver of the covert op. Right on schedule. She halted behind her lead coordinator, Boris, bent over a pulsing, colorful weather map.

When Tracy placed her hand on his shoulder, Boris stopped typing and adjusted his headset. She stood erect, arms crossed and chin high, her gold silk blouse complementing her team’s black combat uniforms like a leather-banded Swiss watch.

Seeds of anarchy thrive in a nation stripped of electric power.

The enormous gravity of today’s operation weighed on everyone aboard. Their goal: to plant kernels of chaos.

She clucked her tongue, gave a sharp nod and pointed to a green and yellow blob on his screen. “Tell me that’s not fog.”

Successfully executing their mission—polished for years—would bring infamy to her name and enter Tracy Daniela Ciacchella into the history books alongside John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald. Not desirable, but exitus acta probat: the outcome justifies the deeds.

“It is, but ma’am, your yacht is in perfect position in Old Tampa Bay,” Boris said, a hint of a Russian accent slipping through on certain syllables. “All four hundred drones fully programmed, ready for activation and deployment from boat deck. We have new problem.”

A sitting US president hadn’t fallen since ‘63. Today’s mission was the culmination of years of planning, subversion, and digital sleight of hand. No bullets. No lone gunman. Just 400 Semtex-laden drones guided by a matrix of stolen GPS coordinates and a rigged FAA exemption buried three years ago by one of her assets.

A clean kill.

Boris nodded. “Not worried about fog, ma’am, but light rain, not good for drones. Moved in faster than expected.”

Each drone carried a two-pound brick of homemade Semtex.

Washington had talked counter-drone defense for years. But as was typical with US leadership, nothing actually got done. No productive decisions. Only political wrangling and posturing—mixed with unhealthy levels of toxic masculinity.

Incompetent politicians. Yet another reason to raise my curtain of death—weather permitting.

For the final time, Tracy confirmed the ground team in position. On her iPad, she tapped open the video chat app connected with her two generals: first, the captain on her yacht in Old Tampa Bay, Florida; and second, her trusted, longtime friend Bob Huffington—nicknamed

Huff—perched atop the Macy’s roof near I-275. Positioned a mile south, Huff had an unobstructed view of the final approach flight path for runway 1R at Tampa International.

Although Tracy herself was nowhere near Florida, both video feeds from her team streamed clean and crisp via satellite. Rolling fog thickened, obscuring her views.

“Wind speed?” she asked Huff.

“Twenty-two knots. For now, acceptable, but if gusts start pushing above twenty-five, our chances drop to ten percent.”

Getting Goldberg into place had been her masterpiece. After today, with President Whitehead out of the picture, Vice President Goldberg would give Tracy direct access to the power levers controlling the federal government. Her puppet would be in perfect position for the next phase of world domination.

It was now or never. Time for the all-important decision.

Even if the wind began gusting, the drones might still fly close enough to do catastrophic damage.

Tracy brought her iPad close and announced into the tiny speaker, “Green. Repeat, we are green for Operation Black Flock.”

On her screen, both generals nodded in confirmation. Now—shadowy iPad feeds showed Huff entering the launch code while workers on the boat peeled off a massive blue tarp to reveal a cargo container with four hundred off-the-shelf quadcopter drones—all made in China—packed inside a customized carbon fiber lattice. Each carried a two-pound payload of Semtex and a pre-programmed set of GPS-coordinated waypoints—latitude, longitude and elevation—to travel to.

“Gusts up to twenty-four knots,” Huff said, nervously tugging at his earlobe before giving her a thumbs up, indicating her ground team had programmed the drones and activated them. Assuming the weather cooperated, the small black machines would follow precise paths using exact signals from dozens of GPS satellites—all in working order as of five minutes ago, according to her inside man at the Department of Defense. Her DOD contact had also confirmed the Air Force One plane on descent was, in fact, carrying President Whitehead, not a decoy.

Boris leaned back in his chair, away from his laptop, and squinted at Tracy. “I still think we could have come up with a better name for this op.”

She nodded, anxiety rising, wondering whether the drones would perform as intended. “Perhaps.”

“How about Operation Kill Racist Xenophobic Pedophile?”

“Come now, Boris. Way too long.” Tracy gave a silent smirk.

A tiny matrix of red and green lights blinked on her iPad, communicating status from every craft, as propellers whirred, creating a bee-like buzzing sound crackling from the embedded speaker.

The swarm of drones lifted skyward and disappeared into the gray blur of rolling fog.

***

Author Bio

J. Luke Bennecke is an Amazon #1 bestselling thriller author who writes about what happens when technology gets smarter—and people don’t. A former civil engineer and longtime executive, he spent decades designing real-world systems in California before turning to fictional ones that fail far more spectacularly. His novels explore artificial intelligence, surveillance, memory manipulation, and the dangerous gap between innovation and ethics. He is currently at work on his tenth novel.

Luke lives in Southern California with his wife of thirty-five years and their four spunky cats. When not writing, he enjoys philanthropy, consulting as an engineering expert witness, traveling, playing golf, creating videos, and voiceover acting.

Social Media Links

JLukeBennecke.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @JLukeBennecke
BookBub – @JLukeBennecke
Instagram – @JLukeBennecke
Facebook – @JLukeBennecke
LinkedIn

Purchase Links

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PICT GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/AFdS4HeJ

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Fatal Pattern by Kate Angelo

FATAL PATTERN

by Kate Angelo

September 14 – 25, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for FATAL PATTERN (The King Legacy Book #2) by Kate Angelo on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

A COVERT INVESTIGATION

A stalker attacks behavioral analyst Dr. Tori Crew at knifepoint, shattering the fierce independence she’s built since her parents’ unsolved murder. Forced into an off-the-books criminal investigation, Tori must push her expertise–and her fiercely guarded heart–to the breaking point as a killer’s pattern emerges.

A LOOMING THREAT

Homicide detective Blade St. James has been Tori’s friend and protector since childhood. Haunted by his own past of parental abandonment, Blade is determined to build a stable life and find the peace that always seems just out of reach. But when Tori’s life is threatened, his guardian reflexes collide with everything he’s been trying to build.

A HIDDEN MENACE

As the conspiracy rooted in Tori’s past pulls them deeper, the boundaries of their friendship blur, and the truth neither can deny becomes impossible to ignore. Can they unmask the sophisticated serial killer before they become the final, fatal piece in the pattern?

In this gripping romantic suspense thriller, Kate Angelo delivers pulse-pounding psychological suspense and forensic investigations threaded with slow-burn romance and a heart-stopping cold case.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249031857-fatal-pattern?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2DSXG553wU&rank=1

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

FATAL PATTERN (The King Legacy Book #2) by Kate Angelo is a fast-paced, emotional roller coaster of a Christian romantic suspense that delivers more answers tied to the over-arching criminal conspiracy plot from The King Legacy book #1, Girl Lost, and a new romance between two members of the previously introduced group of friends. I recommend reading book one first because of the large amount of crossover between the two books.

Dr, Tori Crew has a stalker. Detective Blade St. James has been Tori’s protector since childhood when they were taken into Stryker’s Warriors program for troubled and or delinquent children. As the stalker escalates, Tori and Blade receive information that this may all tie back to Tori’s childhood and the murder of her parents.

The conspiracy is even deeper than they imagined. Her parent’s deaths are leading them to clues that grow into a serial killer investigation and conspiracy in local law enforcement agencies that tie into organ harvesting which almost got their friends killed previously. But who can they trust, and will their discoveries lead them to the killer or their own deaths?

This second book in The King Legacy series is full of surprises and twists. The characters and the over-arching suspense plot from book one around a criminal conspiracy involved in organ harvesting keeps the plot moving with an ever-increasing sense of dread and peril. The killer’s fascination with fractals made an interesting, and to me, unique plot point. Both Tori and Blade had not only a serious investigation to solve but also had to face many of their childhood traumas to move forward and move from friendship to couple. The romance is a slow-burn romance with no sex scenes due to this being a Christian romantic suspense. The author ties the scripture verse in the preface of the story to the denouement perfectly and does not make the reader feel as if they are being preached at throughout the story. There are still more questions to be answered, and I look forward to reading more books in this series.

I highly recommend this thrilling Christian romantic suspense addition to The King Legacy series.

***

Excerpt

1 

THE COLD EDGE OF THE BLADE kissed Tori Crew’s throat, drawing a rivulet of blood that began its descent down her neck. “Don’t move.” The whisper brushed against her ear. Tori tasted bile at the back of her throat, and for one horrifying  moment, she thought she might throw up. Her pulse thumped  against the knife pressed to her carotid. Each beat reverberated  through the steel and deep into her bones. 

The parking lot at the Kingdom MMA Gym stretched dark and  empty around her. It was her stupid idea to meet at 4:30 a.m., and  now here she was all alone. No witnesses. No help. 

Stryker should be here. Setting up folding chairs in a circle near  the boxing ring, brewing that industrial- strength coffee that could  wake the dead, preparing for morning Bible study with the kids  who lived in the residential program. 

But Stryker wasn’t coming. 

Stryker lay unconscious in a hospital bed, his salt-and-pepper  hair loose around his pale face instead of tied back the way he  always wore it. Some lunatic had tried to kill her mentor. One of  the greatest men she’d ever known, and now— 

The blade pressed deeper. “I said don’t move.” 

Her knees wanted to buckle, but she locked them straight.  Stryker had taught her that. Stay strong. Stay focused. The fighter in her knew what to do. Elbow to solar plexus. Heel  to instep. Grab the wrist. Twist. Three seconds and he’d be on the  ground. But he had the knife pressed just right. She couldn’t make  a move without him slicing through a major artery. One wrong  angle, and she’d bleed out before she hit the pavement. She forced her breathing to slow. Fought the adrenaline that  wanted to flood her system and make her do something stupid. Assess. Analyze. Act. 

The mantra from Krav Maga training steadied her racing  thoughts. Observe first. Plan the attack. Strike when the odds  shifted. 

“You’re bleeding.” His breath was hot against her neck. “I’ve  always liked the color of blood.” 

She cataloged details. Male. Less than six feet tall, based on the  angle of the knife. Maybe 5′9″. Right-handed. Gloves. No discern able accent. No alcohol on his breath. Not impulsive. Calculated.  Educated. 

He drew in a breath. “Such a pretty shade of red, don’t you  think?” 

“Who . . . who are you?” She worked to keep her voice steady  despite the tremors threatening to overtake her body. “I’m the one who watches. I’m your . . . shadow. A part of you.”  His free hand clamped around her chest, crushing her arms against  her ribs. The blade pressed deeper, stealing her breath. “You’ve  been busy. Two new cases, six trips to the gym, and you changed  your coffee order to vanilla instead of caramel.” 

Her stalker. The one who’d been leaving notes on her car.  The one who’d been calling and hanging up. The one the police  wouldn’t pursue because the “non- violent harassment” apparently didn’t meet the threshold for a credible threat. 

He’d been watching everything. 

Her stomach twisted, not with fear— she could handle fear—

but with fury. “You think that makes you powerful? It makes you  pathetic.” 

The knife pressed deeper. Not enough to do serious damage, but  enough to elicit another drop of blood. His gloved finger caught the droplet sliding down her neck, then traced it back up to the  wound. 

“Ah. We mustn’t lose too much. Not yet.” 

She analyzed his posture. The way he held the knife. How his  chest rose and fell against her back. “What do you want?” “To show you that I can kill you anytime I want.” His laugh was  soft, almost tender. “This is just the beginning, Dr. Crew. I’m not  done toying with you yet.” 

Fight instinct coiled through her muscles, but her mind weighed  the odds again and overrode them. Information. Get information. Every criminal had a pattern, a motivation. Understanding him  meant catching him. And catching him meant ending this night mare. 

She strained her eyes to the right, trying to catch even a sliver  of his face in her peripheral vision. “Why me?” 

“Because you think you understand the darkness,” he said. “But  you don’t. Not like I do.” 

A pair of headlights sliced through the blackness, white light  stabbing her retinas. The blade lifted from her throat. She spun, fist cocked for a power jab at his face, but she only  struck air. Gone. The coward had melted into the shadows along  the wall, black clothing swallowed by the darkness as he disap peared into the alley beyond. Her chance—blown. She could have  ended this right here, right now. Could have put him down and  dragged answers out of him. Instead, she was standing here bleeding while he slipped away like the roach he was. 

A car screeched to a halt beside her. The driver’s door flew open.  Detective Blade St. James erupted from his unmarked Charger  with his hand on his holstered weapon. “Tori? You okay?” Her fingers went to her throat and came away sticky with blood. She stared at the crimson smear. A savage anger bubbled  up inside her chest. He’d touched her. Cut her. And vanished  like smoke. 

“What the—” Blade’s eyes widened at her blood- slick fingertips.  “You’re bleeding.” 

“It’s just a scratch.” Her knees felt shaky. She’d had every skill  and training to handle situations exactly like this, and she’d let the  stalker get the drop on her. 

“What happened? Who was that?” 

“My stalker.” She pressed the cut to stem the bleeding. “Stalker?” His voice rose in disbelief. “What stalker? Since  when do you have a stalker?” 

“Three weeks, give or take.” A crimson droplet had dropped on  her knuckle. Perfect. Round. Like a bead of glass. “I’ve always liked the color of blood.” 

Ice slid through her veins. 

“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Blade had his phone  out. “We need to call this in. Get you to a hospital.” “No.” She caught his wrist. “The locals are aware, but you know  stalker cases. Nothing they can do.” 

“Tori, he had a knife to your throat.” His voice ticked up. “That’s  attempted murder.” 

“It’s not that simple.” 

“It is that simple. Let’s do this right. Get an officer out here.  Take your statement, photos, dust for prints, canvass witnesses—” “There are no witnesses at four thirty in the morning!” She  swept her arm toward the deserted street and empty parking lot.  “And he wore gloves, so no prints. We’ve got nothing.” “All the more reason to report it. You say this guy’s been watch ing you for weeks, and now he’s crossed the line to physical assault.  He’s escalating.” 

“You think I don’t know that?” She dropped her hand from the  cut and stormed over to Blade’s car.

***

Author Bio

Kate Angelo is the Publishers Weekly bestselling author of Hunting the Witness, Selah Award winner of Deadly Holiday Hijack, and Amazon Top 100 bestseller of Driving Force. Kate works alongside her husband championing stronger marriages and families. Her journey from foster care to bestselling author fuels her fast-paced romantic suspense, where flawed characters discover hope and healing through life’s fiercest trials and relationships. When she’s not putting fictional people through the wringer, she’s out creating real-life happily-ever-afters at conferences and events nationwide.

Social Media Links

KateAngelo.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @kateangeloauthor
BookBub – @kateangeloauthor
Instagram – @kateangeloauthor
Facebook – Kate Angelo- Author

Purchase Links

***

PICT GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/gcp3A3wQ

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Darkness Falls by James L’Etoile

DARKNESS FALLS

by James L’Etoile

September 7 – October 2, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DARKNESS FALLS (A Detective Nathan Parker Novel Book #5) by James L’Etoile on this Partners In Crime Virtual Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy!

Book Description

Not all darkness flows into the Valley of the Sun from our southern borders.

Detective Nathan Parker discovers a double murder in a Phoenix drug lab, and all the evidence points at a connection to his son, Miguel. Was his adopted son swept up in a drug rip-off and murder? Did he play a role in the distribution of illicit designer drugs in the valley? As authorities close in on Miguel, Parker discovers a border militia group rushing to control the drug flow. The Night Watch militia leaves of trail of violence in their wake and local politicians use the shadow of the scourge of drug violence to influence an upcoming election. Who stands to gain while Parker and his family are caught in the crossfire? Who will betray them?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256806921-darkness-falls?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=jPKPGNqqsM&rank=1

Darkness Falls

Genre: Thriller / Police Procedural
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: August 25, 2026
Number of Pages: 350
ISBN: 978-889203313
Series: A Detective Nathan Parker Novel

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

DARKNESS FALLS (A Detective Nathan Parker Novel Book #5) by James L’Etoile is another edge-of-your-seat police procedural/crime thriller featuring Detective Nathan Parker with the Maricopa Sheriff’s Department. While each book in this series centers around a new criminal investigation, this series has main characters that I feel are as significant as the plot and continue to evolve in each book. I suggest reading the series in order of publication.

When Detective Nathan Parker is called to the scene of a double homicide in an isolated trailer, at first glance it appears to be a tragic but not uncommon drug related murder. As he and his partner search the trailer, a familiar backpack is discovered. It belongs to his adopted son, Miguel. Now it is personal and Nathan must discover if everything he believes about his son’s life is true, even as he believes Miguel is not telling him the whole truth.

Miguel becomes a suspect in the murder investigation with DEA and ICE involved which could lead to Miguel losing everything. Nathan must deal with rogue DEA agents, crooked members in his sheriff’s department, white supremist biker gangs, and anti-government militias to fight to not only save Miguel but his pregnant wife, too.

This story has a fast pace and tension level that will keep you reading well into the night. Mr. L’Etoile never shies away from controversial and/or difficult topics that are related to our southern border and immigration. Money, power, and corruption, and all the alphabet agencies give this plot plenty of twists and surprises along the way with an ever-increasing sense of apprehension. Nathan needs the assistance of all his friends to solve this case and protect his family even as he faces a betrayal too close to home.

I highly recommend this thrilling addition to the Nathan Parker series and cannot wait for more!

***

Excerpt

Chapter One

Sucking stale air through a respirator, John Thomas Mitchell finally found his niche. He dropped out of high school because it wasn’t his thing. The teachers said he wasn’t being challenged. Truth was, John Thomas left because he’d learned what he needed to make it on his own.

Most of the people he interacted with only knew him as the Birdman. If you wanted the best high, the Birdman was the source. He wasn’t a drug dealer; he was a connoisseur—a brand ambassador of pills.

“J.T., I got another five hundred bagged and ready,” a reedy voice said through his respirator.

John Thomas pulled the lever on his manual pressing machine, one of his own design, and twenty white, perfectly pressed pills dropped out, each embossed with his own logo—a Blackbird in flight.

“We need another thousand for the college this weekend. It’s pledge week, Cal.”

John Thomas tapped the plastic container, shaking loose the snow-colored powder residue from the sides, and monitored the loose material as it flowed onto the dimpled steel plate where it would be formed and pressed into the coveted Blackbird doses. The perfect blend of Ecstasy and opiate.

A hard knock on the trailer’s thick metal door reverberated through the old single-wide.

John Thomas and Cal exchanged a glance through drug powder dusted goggles.

“Cops?” Cal said.

John Thomas glanced at his watch. “Cops don’t knock. Must be our boy coming to pick up. He’s early. Get it would ya? I’m in the middle of setting up the next press.”

Cal scooted back from the workbench and placed the plastic-wrapped bundle of pills on the cheap folding table set up in the middle of the stripped-down trailer.

The knock at the door sounded again. This time, it came harder and rattled the heavy doorframe.

“All right, all right, I’m coming, dammit,” Cal said as he slid the two bolts that secured the door.

The moment he threw the door aside, a thundering blast echoed in the small space. Cal flew back against the far wall, a crimson blossom leaching through his t-shirt.

John Thomas fell out of his chair, and two gunmen, both dressed in black, wearing full-face respirators, stepped into the trailer. John Thomas crabbed backwards on the floor trying to distance himself from the gun-toting pair.

The closer of the two leveled a black shotgun at him.

John Thomas blanched. He looked away from the gunman. “Take it. Take what you want.” He held his hands up—submissive and cowering.

The gunman tipped his head to his partner, who stepped over Cal’s body and stuffed the bags of finished pills into a black nylon zippered duffle.

When the pills were tucked away in the duffel, the man backed away. The gunman didn’t lower the shotgun.

“You got what you came for. I won’t tell nothing,” John Thomas said. His voice thin and quivering.

Over his pounding heartbeat, John Thomas heard the gunman’s reply.

“I know you won’t.”

A flash from the muzzle and an ear-splitting roar filled the trailer. John Thomas lay sprawled on the floor. The gunman slung the shotgun over his shoulder and stepped around what was left of John Thomas’s head and grabbed the heavy pill press, dumping the powder that hadn’t been compressed on the floor.

He backed through the door and took a last look inside before his partner tossed in a plain blue backpack. They closed the metal door and jogged to where they’d parked their dark blue Ford F-150 pickup.

The pill-laden duffel went into a hardcover case. The gunman took less than a minute to strip down the pill press and remove the plates that formed the pills with their unique Blackbird signature logo. The two steel plates tucked into another hard case, and the mechanical parts of the press were tossed into a thick copse of creosote brush.

After the cases were secured in the back seat, the men got in, started the truck and backed away.

The gunman pulled his respirator off and tossed it into the back seat. His blue eyes fell on his cell phone he’d stashed on the console. He scanned it while driving on the rutted, washboard dirt road and dialed 911.

“911, what’s your emergency,” a voice sounded over the cellphone.

“Hey, I just spotted a pack of illegals busting into a trailer out near Vulture Mountain west of Wickenburg.”

“How do you know they were undocumented?”

“You can tell, and I heard gunshots.”

“What’s your name?”

The gunman hung up and handed the phone to the passenger, who slipped out the SIM card, snapped it in half and tossed the bits out the window.

“How long you figure it’ll take them to find the place?” the passenger said.

“Not long.”

The gunman pressed down on the accelerator toward Phoenix.

***

Author Bio

James L’Etoile uses his twenty-nine years behind bars as an influence in his award-winning novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, and director of California’s state parole system. His novels have been shortlisted or awarded the Lefty, Anthony, Silver Falchion, Macavity, and the Public Safety Writers Award. Illusion of Truth, Sins of the Father, and Darkness Falls are his most recent novels. James also serves as the Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America.

Social Media Links

JamesLEtoile.com
Prison to the Page Newsletter
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub – @crimewriter
Instagram – @authorjamesletoile
Threads – @authorjamesletoile
Facebook – @AuthorJamesLetoile
BlueSky – @jamesletoile.bsky.social

Purchase Links

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PICT GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/csuLGYZV

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Avalon Moon by Michael Amos Cody

AVALON MOON

by Michael Amos Cody

August 24 – September 18, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for AVALON MOON by Michael Amos Cody on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

In Avalon Moon, a local man has gone missing and then is soon found dead in a highland meadow, side-by-side with an unknown woman. When another man and woman go missing and a female deputy is found murdered, Gabriel Tanner, editor of Runion’s weekly newspaper, and Plumer Reeves, a reclusive local hawkshaw working for the niece of the first dead man, suspect a monster is hunting in their western North Carolina mountains. Two extraordinary young women, the Avalon community’s Ariel Anderson and Lonesome Mountain’s Livvy Goforth, join Tanner and Reeves to lead the attempt to discover and stop the killer.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251091623-avalon-moon?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=DnDS1ED4zy&rank=1

Avalon Moon

Genre: Psychological Horror, Thriller
Published by: Madville Publishing
Publication Date: May 19, 2026
Number of Pages: 340
ISBN: 9781963695670 (ISBN10: 1963695674)

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

AVALON MOON by Michael Amos Cody is an atmospheric Southern Gothic genre mash-up that seamlessly blends horror, mystery, suspense, and crime thriller into a book that captivates and engages.

Gabriel Tanner owns, edits, and writes for the local paper in Runion, North Carolina. As he is putting information about a missing woman in the paper, he is called to photograph a crime scene. What he discovers at the scene are the remains of a man and a woman. At about the same time, a young mountain woman, Livvy Goforth, has asked Plumer Reeves, a local hawkshaw, who finds missing things, including people, to find her uncle, who she knows is dead. More people disappear and the community begins to realize they have an unknow killer in their mountains and everyone must work together before more end up dead, including themselves.

Set in the mountains of Madison County in western North Carolina and featuring a mix of social class protagonists, this author’s writing pulled me right into the intensifying suspense, and beauty of the location. Paranormal elements and folklore traditions are woven throughout the plot, but do not overtake the plausibility of the crime plot.

I am very glad to have joined this book tour, because I probably would not have been aware of this book otherwise and that would have been a terrible shame. I highly recommend this Southern Gothic mash-up genre book and hope many more people discover it!

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Excerpt

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

ONE

Gabriel Tanner

“Editor of and chief contributor to a country weekly” never made my top ten list of things I wanted to be when I grew up. For the longest time, I had only one item on that list—Rock Star! I toyed with adding a second item, maybe being just a hit-making songwriter, but the songwriting I did throughout the 1980s was so closely bound up with the Rock Star! idea that I couldn’t pull the two apart. If I didn’t become the next Bruce Springsteen, which I didn’t, I was unlikely to become the next Bob McDill—ditto on the didn’t.

So, with the Rock Star! phase of my life gone grumbling into my dreams, I left Nashville in the hot gut of August 1990, retreated, tail between legs, to Runion, my hometown in the North Carolina mountains, and the following January entered Runion State University, where I double-majored in English and Journalism. I took a part-time job as student reporter and all-around grunt for Sheldon Dean’s Runion Recorder. A couple years after I graduated, Sheldon decided he was tired of writing and offered me a full-time position as editor, keeping only the title of “General Manager” for himself. I accepted.

And so it came to pass that on a cold evening in early March, on the darker side of twilight, I drove toward the Lonesome Mountain end of Genesis Road, planning to swing around the back way into Runion. On regular mornings going to work, or any other time I was in a hurry, I drove down to the French Broad end of Genesis and took the river road up a short hill and onto Main Street, but I was dreading two hours minimum of sitting in a meeting at the Madison County Cooperative Extension Office complex, housed in the recently renovated Old Mill on Mill Street, and taking notes for a regular report to appear in next week’s paper. The room would be stuffy with heat and humanity, and to be honest, I was lollygagging.

This year’s March was looking like a lion-lamb version—in like a lion, out like a lamb. We expected to wake up the next morning to some serious snow and ice courtesy of Winter Storm Ulysses. The fields on my left and the woods on my right seemed to hold their breath in anticipation.

I rolled to a stop at the T-intersection where Genesis Road dead-ends at Jewel Hill Road, with Lonesome Mountain ahead and to my left, dark against the sky. My new Honda hybrid sat quietly, and still not used to its workings, I thought it might have died but relaxed when no warning lights appeared. Even though the temperature was in the upper thirties, I opened my windows and—with no other traveler sitting at my bumper and politely honking, as our mountain folk do—sat at the intersection with my eyes closed and my skin alive to the chilly air. I heard a few of last summer’s still-tethered leaves shivering in the boughs overhead and something scurrying through the underbrush in the woods off to my right. I think I could’ve engaged the emergency brake and gone to sleep, but I opened my eyes, suddenly uneasy and unsure why.

The headlights shown across Jewel Hill Road and lit the lower part of a hillside pasture beyond. A few head of cattle midway up the slope stood at the edge of the light and grazed on pale grass.

Not one to be unnerved by a bovine presence in the twilight, I strained my senses to catch and identify what raised hairs along my forearms and around the back of my neck.

To my left, a field rolled away in successive swells toward a wooded ridge standing blackly against the sky. Runion lay on the other side of that ridge, but somewhere between the town and me, yips and cries rose from the gathering dark. These joined together into an eerie howl of various voices that twisted around one another, broke apart, and swelled together again.

Coyotes.

When I was growing up in these mountains, coyotes existed only in old TV westerns. But they were voice-over actors only, strictly behind-the-scenes. They were soundtrack features. Technicians of ambiance. Nothing said a cowboy was alone in the darkening wilderness like the distant howl of a coyote. The cowboy would raise his eyes from the campfire and sit still and listen for a moment, alert to the wild. But it was never the coyote itself that frightened him. Maybe the coyote’s cry was a reminder of his loneliness and vulnerability—that if such a critter could be out there in the dark, then anything could be out there.

But in recent years, coyotes had loped out of the faded glory of Hollywood’s western and into our world, maybe crossing the Mississippi around Memphis and moving steadily east across Tennessee until they reached Appalachia and Runion. They were seen trotting along the edges of regional four-lanes or lying dead on twisting mountain highways. They stole cats and small dogs just beyond the lights of back porches. That evening at the stop sign, they yipped and yapped and cried somewhere out on the verge of a Runion farmer’s field.

Still, I thought, at least they aren’t wolves. Wolves, of course, were a different story. Send up the howl of a wolf into the night, and the cowboy would become focused on the beast, not on loneliness or vulnerability. The wolf’s howl menaced, threatened. Eyes might shine at the edge of the campfire’s light, followed by snarling close-ups. Then enter the legend of the wolf mixed with a man, and the beast achieved cinematic glory, jumping genres from westerns to horror, something coyotes could never quite pull off.

When I pressed the accelerator, the Honda whispered to life, and I turned left toward town. If I sat there much longer, I would be late for the extension meeting, during which one item on the agenda just happened to be related to the beasts of my T-intersection musing. . . .

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Author Bio

Michael Amos Cody is author of the 2017 novel GABRIEL’S SONGBOOK and the 2021 collection A TWILIGHT REEL, winner of the Short Story category in the Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022. His 2025 literary suspense novel STREETS OF NASHVILLE won the Thriller category in the 2026 Independent Press Awards. His new novel, released in May 2026, is the psychological thriller AVALON MOON. Cody lives with wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches early American literature and creative writing in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.

Social Media Links

MichaelAmosCody.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
Instagram – @michaelamoscody
Threads – @michaelamoscody
Facebook – @MacOde77  
Facebook –  @michaelamoscody
BlueSky – @michaelamoscody.bsky.social

Purchase Links

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PICT Tours Giveaway

https://pictbooks.tours/9jRugcXi

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Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Hunt You Down by Roger Stelljes

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HUNT YOU DOWN (Agent Tori Hunter Book #9) by Roger Stelljes on this Books-On-Tour Bookouture tour.

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

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Book Description

The girls walk arm-in-arm, laughing through the quiet late-night streets of Manchester Bay, celebrating their homecoming weekend. But arriving home, the laughter dies. Their best friend Cami lies still on the floor, hair splayed on the carpet, and rope marks all around her throat…

When university student Cami Margot is found murdered, Agent Tori Hunter and Detective Will Braddock are among the first on the scene. For Tori, the image of this smart young woman with her whole life ahead of her being hunted down is instantly seared in her mind. The team quickly realizes the murder weapon—a purple, gray and black nylon rope—is an exact match of that used in the murder of another student.

Tori teaches Criminal Justice at the university. Knowing the students trust her implicitly, Tori asks questions all over campus and soon learns that both girls were members of Lake Frat. The group plan secret parties at each other’s lakeside homes, away from prying eyes… and when the rope is linked to a boat from one of the parties, it’s clear the girls were killed by one of their own.

Does a psychopath walk amongst the university students, attend their classes, join in their parties, cheer at their sporting events all while plotting their next kill? The students ask Tori: could they be next? Someone has been hunting these girls. But Tori is a hunter, too… even if the prey is closer to home than she ever thought possible.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1247737.Roger_Stelljes

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0GYDXW4TBsocial

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HUNT YOU DOWN (Agent Tori Hunter Book #9) by Roger Stelljes is a diabolically twisted addition to the Agent Tori Hunter series that reminds me once again why I love these books. While each book continues to follow the lives and relationships of all the main characters and citizens of Manchester Bay, Minnesota, the author does an excellent job of encapsulating their stories and the criminal case in each, so they can each be easily read as a standalone crime thriller/police procedural.

Agent Tori Hunt is teaching Criminal Justice full-time now at the university, but when her partner Detective Sergeant Will Braddock gets an early morning call, he asks her to accompany him when he is told there is another murder of a university student. As the investigation heats up, Tori and Braddock discover the two dead girls were members of Lake Frat. The group consists of wealthy college students who use their family homes on the lakes for exclusive private parties, and they believe their killer is a member.

When a sting is set up for a probable suspect, it all goes awry. Tori is in a foot chase to capture the suspected killer and when he goes to trial, the case blows up in embarrassment for Tori and the prosecution in court when a third girl is killed in the same manner. Tori and Braddock know they are being manipulated but proving it beyond a reasonable doubt is the problem.

This is an excellent addition to this series! There are so many twists and red herrings in the criminal plot that I kept reading to the end. All the books in this series have had gripping criminal plots I have loved, but this is now my favorite. Tori and Braddock continue to be an intelligent pair of supportive and loving protagonists with the entire cast of secondary characters in the sheriff’s department giving the reader a strong police procedural. After these nine books, I feel like I am visiting old friends and cannot wait to return. This is a thriller series that checks all my boxes and leaves me wanting more.

I highly recommend this captivating criminal thriller/police procedural!

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About the Author

Roger Stelljes is the acclaimed New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of pulse-pounding murder mystery and suspense novels, including the Tori Hunter and McRyan Mystery Series. Roger’s crime thrillers are noted for their fast-paced, yet intricate plots filled with layered and complex characters.

Roger started his first novel in July 2002 while on vacation in Minnesota’s Brainerd Lakes area and has been writing ever since. His debut book, The St. Paul Conspiracy, was nominated in genre fiction for the Minnesota Book Awards along with finalists Brian Freeman and William Kent Krueger. With his follow-up, Deadly Stillwater, where Vince Flynn hailed Roger as a “powerful new thriller voice”, he won the Midwest Independent Book Publishers award for commercial fiction.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Roger still lives there with his family. In addition to his work as an author, Roger is a partner in his law firm. Roger is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys spending time outdoors boating, attending hockey games, and honing his golf game.

Mailing List: https://bookouture.com/subscribe/roger-stelljes

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rogerstelljesbooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rogerstelljes

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rogerstelljes.bsky.social

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/roger-stelljes

Feature Post and Book Review: Jove by Jack Davies

Book Description

Retired secret service agent Ron Eldon hunts his daughter’s killer, taking on the role of detective in a case that everyone says is suicide. Aided by his ex-colleague Yolanda Reddy, they are confronted by official obstructions, plagued by red herrings, confounded by false information, and tricked by a Russian spy who has history with Eldon from the Cold War. Leaving behind him a trail of bodies and a minefield of revelations, Eldon is beaten and captured before escaping to continue his crusade across London, Bristol, Cornwall, and Yorkshire. Ending with a shocking twist that reframes the story in a new and defining light, this spy thriller delves into Britain’scolonial past, present-day slavery, and Russia’s dirty tricks, uncovering truths that dare not speak their names.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243607679-jove?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=SKDAVmteZa&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

JOVE: A Novel by Jack Davies is an engrossing British espionage/crime thriller mash-up that gives the reader an exciting, action-packed story of a retired secret service father seeking justice for his daughter, Jove, the deception and double cross of British and Russian spies, and a far-right criminal conspiracy.

Retired secret service agent Ron Eldon is sent to identify the body of a young women who is believed to have committed suicide by jumping off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. The young woman is his daughter, Jove, who is currently a secret service asset who followed her father into service. With the help of an ex-colleague, Eldon searches for information, but with official obstructions, kidnapping, murders, and a Russian spy from his past, Eldon will have to use all his experience to discover the truth and survive.

This novel is written with such intimacy and intrigue it is difficult to put down. As we meet and follow our protagonist, retired secret service Ron Eldon you feel as though he could walk right off the page. Eldon is not a super spy caricature, but a very human man. As you follow him throughout the story, the plot contains many red herrings, twists, and surprises that continue through the end of the book. Being a novel of spies, deception, and misinformation, I was continually guessing if what I was reading and being led to believe was true. The tie-in of the historical subplot of Bristol’s part in England’s slave trade is interesting and added to the questions and suspicions around Jove’s investigations into historical slave holders’ compensation, BLM, and right-wing extremists.

I highly recommend this smart and surprising British espionage/crime thriller mash-up!

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About the Author

Jack Davies is an award-winning writer/director/producer based in London. Writer of published short stories, film scripts and poetry, he was shortlisted for the York Poetry Prize in 2020. He lives in London, UK.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.jackdaviesauthor.com/

Simon & Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Jove/Jack-Davies/9781917704557

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jove-Novel-Jack-Davies-ebook/dp/B0GYQ6QKN7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2M0QPWPPINGZ2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1Vk_P9gXD2ET2ssAkJr083Ms