Böcker av Scott Loring Sanders

When a young girl is abducted in a historic New England town in 1981, a family seeks full and total revenge, unwittingly setting in motion several decades worth of wicked lies and betrayal. Flash-forward thirty years, and the reader follows the Chief of Police, Box Sullivan, and his niece, Michelle, a ranger at iconic Walden Pond, two people who, on the surface, appear to be admirable, upstanding citizens. However, as the novel progresses, it becomes evident that both have plenty of hidden secrets and dark pasts which often intertwine with that kidnapping from decades earlier. They each share histories rife with trauma and deceit, as well as similar personalities bent on revenge. When a mysterious skull is discovered by two boys fishing in Walden Pond, and then Michelle's husband later disappears, the suspicion and finger-pointing escalate, and along with it, the tension and suspense. Told in alternating points of view, this literary mystery dives into the psychology of murderous betrayal, familial loyalty, and the extraordinary lengths people will resort to in the pursuit of self-preservation. Twists, turns, and ruthless back-stabbing fill these chapters, keeping the reader guessing and on edge until its unexpected and dark conclusion. Praise for RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES: "Right Between the Eyes is a riveting, twist-filled exploration of violence, memory, and family. With its richly complex characters and vivid sense of place, this is a novel that will stay with you long after you turn the last page." -Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of November Road "A propulsive tale of blackmail and murder rendered in spare, hard-hitting prose. Sanders does a masterly job revealing how a family's closely-held secrets can echo across generations like a gunshot across a midnight lake." -Dennis Tafoya, author of Dope Thief "With a New England setting and the ghosts of Thoreau, Emerson, and Alcott coloring the background, Scott Loring Sanders weaves a tale of family secrets. Good people do bad things, and by the end, you are rooting for them to get away with it. Equal parts Stephen King's Castle Rock and SA Cosby's modern noir." -Jim Winter, author of the Holland Bay thrillers "With terrific pacing, intriguing characters, and skillful buildup of suspense, Sanders thrusts the reader into the dark and grisly past of two sisters in New England and their police officer uncle; a past filled with ominous secrets that threaten to destroy the conspiratorial bonds that unite them. Set in Concord, Massachusetts, where Henry David Thoreau penned his famous philosophical musings, Sanders has crafted a thriller every lover of crime fiction will enjoy to the hilt. A must-read." -Michael Bruce Blackwell, author of Wildlife on the Serengeti "With great risk, clean prose and precise execution, Scott Loring Sanders has created not only a feast for crime fiction aficionados, but also a revelation for all book lovers-proving himself undeniable with this dark, brooding and bloody family drama. Highly recommended." -Nolan Knight, author of The Neon Lights Are Veins and Beneath the Black Palms "This dark and troubling tale of two generations of the Sullivan family operating on multiple sides of the law raises many unsettling questions about the nature-and price-of loyalty at all costs, and is one of the most gripping novels I have read in years." -Nathan Singer, author of Transorbital&a

Dark, gritty, disturbing. Those are the types of characters you'll encounter in the award winning stories within this collection. Tough people in a tough world. But also real people, struggling with difficult decisions when faced with unthinkable circumstances. What happens when you discover a dead body but can't go to the police because of your own dark past? Or your father's dark past? What might a woman resort to when her husband doesn't hold up his end of a bargain? What frightening surprises lie buried beneath the beaches of North Carolina? Or in the desolate hills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains? Or in the swamps of the New Jersey Pine Barrens? These are stories that are as dark, gritty, and disturbing as the characters who inhabit them, yet there is a pervasive humanness which forces us to empathize. That asks us to understand why people sometimes do what they do. Perhaps that's the reason these stories have been chosen for the Best American Mystery series, honored by The Atlantic Monthly's Student Writing Contest, not to mention various other awards and honors. Perhaps that's why these stories will stick with you well after the reading has commenced. Always gnawing at you, unrelenting, asking, "What would you have done in that situation? Would you have behaved any differently?" Praise for SHOOTING CREEK AND OTHER STORIES: "This excellent collection transcends any genre label. Ultimately, these stories are mysteries of the human heart's darkest regions. Scott Sanders is the real deal and deserves a wide and appreciative readership." -Ron Rash, The New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. "Each story is a gem in this dark, atmospheric, treasure box of a collection. Scott Loring Sanders digs deep and peers unflinching into the frail, twisted human heart, revealing its many facets and glittering truths. A stellar collection!" -Lisa Unger, The New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hunter. "In Shooting Creek and Other Stories, you'll find ne'er-do-well husbands, drunken fathers, tough-as-nails women and mothers, and murderously unfaithful wives in a rogue's gallery of dangerous characters in bad situations. These are stories that will keep you up late reading and thinking, stories that mute the concerns of the everyday world while turning up the volume on thrills and excitement. This is a collection that will fire the imagination while raising moral and ethical issues, which is the true heart of Scott Sanders's fiction. If you're looking for something good to read, this is the book you want." -Ed Falco, author of The New York Times bestselling The Family Corleone. "Scott Loring Sanders's stories are always rich in atmosphere, and his characters are often presented with difficult moral dilemmas. He's an author who prefers a degree of ambiguity to an easy resolution, and that makes his work thought-provoking, as well as unpredictable. Readers in search of well-written, complex suspense tales won't go wrong with a Sanders collection!" -Janet Hutchings, Editor-in-Chief, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.