Alex
by Dianne Hartsock
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GENRE: Psychological Thriller
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BOOK BLURB:
Alex is twenty and confused. He always is. The world presses on him with its horrors and pain, with scintillating auras that bewilder his eyes and drive the migraines deeper. He hears the cries of the children, sees the brutal images of tortured victims. He feels out of control and his mind slips…
Severely abused as a child, he is left with horrible scars on his body and even worse scars within his mind. Even though it puts him in danger, he’s compelled to help those who call to him. He’s driven, motivated by his visions to rescue them and hopefully uncover the killer. When he can, he helps the police; yet some detectives suspect he’s involved. Often, Alex finds himself alone and afraid in a world he doesn’t always understand.
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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:
Ben drew up a chair beside him. “These are the people who have gone missing in the past four months.” He selected a photo of a man in his early thirties. “This is Robert Holmes. He’s the exception, disappearing last year in late July. But we have reason to believe his case is related.”
Alex studied the picture. He heard an anguished voice in his mind and knew Robert Holmes was the person he’d seen reflected in his own eyes last summer.
“Mary Sanderlin and Karen Ottoman went missing this spring,” Ben continued. “Stay-at-home moms who disappeared within hours of each other from the same park. Then there’s Kerry Franklyn, a high school math teacher.” He motioned to the picture of a young man with a pleasant smile. “You know about Mariam Kramer,” he went on at the last one, sounding tired. “She was walking home from the park but never made it.”
Alex picked up the girl’s picture. She was beautiful, with the same chestnut hair and gray eyes as her sister.
Helen gasped. “That’s how I see her in my dreams. Who could do this? She’s only eleven years old.”
“What are your dreams about?” Ben asked.
“It’s evening and Mariam’s running down an empty street. A man’s chasing her. It’s Alex.” she swallowed. “Only now I remember something else. A blackness looms over both of them.” Her voice dropped lower. “I think it means Alex will disappear next.”
Brad cleared his throat for attention. “Isn’t it just a dream?”
“Maybe. My sister and I are very close, and I almost always know when she’s in trouble. It’s a gift we share. Alex must have some of this same gift.”
She stared at him with a strange glitter in the depths of her eyes that was almost hypnotic. Unexpectedly, she reached over and grabbed his hands. He tried to jerk away, but she wouldn’t let go. He moaned as brutal images flooded his mind once again.
***
The man had been there with his groping hands, hurting her in the dark. She was lonely and frightened.
He was with the other one now.
She could hear the screams.
He was coming!
***
Alex yanked his hands away from Helen’s, scrambling to his feet. He backed against the nearest wall in terror, covering his eyes against the blood and despair on the tortured girl’s face. The odor of wet earth filled his nostrils even as it sealed Mariam’s mouth and crushed her still beating heart. He slipped into the darkness with her.
He came to himself with Jane’s arms around him, on the floor, dazed. Taking a desperate breath, he winced at the stab of pain in his chest. He sat up and rubbed his face, sick and dizzy.
Doctor Beckett let go of his wrist. “Take it easy. You fainted, but your pulse is strong.”
“Convenient,” Kramer muttered from where he leaned against the wall.
Ben crouched beside Alex. “Did you see them?”
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AUTHOR BIO:
Dianne grew up in one of the older homes in the middle of Los Angeles, a place of hardwood floors and secret closets and back staircases. A house where ghosts lurk in the basement and the faces in the paintings watch you walk up the front stairs. Rooms where you keep the closet doors closed tight at night. It’s where her love of the mysterious and wonderful came from. Dianne is the author of m/m romance, paranormal/suspense, fantasy adventure, the occasional thriller, and anything else that comes to mind.
She now lives in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon with her incredibly patient husband, who puts up with the endless hours she spends hunched over the keyboard letting her characters play. Dianne says Oregon’s raindrops are the perfect setting in which to write. There’s something about being cooped up in the house with a fire crackling on the hearth and a cup of hot coffee in her hands, which kindles her imagination.
Currently, Dianne works as a floral designer in a locally-owned gift shop. Which is the perfect job for her. When not writing, she can express herself through the rich colors and textures of flowers and foliage.
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Dianne will be awarding a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner's Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
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