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| Drip, drip. I can hear something somewhere ahead. Drip. I walk down an old road. The last time a truck may have come down here was last autumn. It‘s spring now and the snow is gone. Below my feet is last year’s grass folded down from the pressure of the snow like a spongy carpet. My shoes are wet. A chill crawls up my legs inside my pants until it reaches my groin, passes to my spine and makes me shiver. Drip, drip. I can’t hear anything else but that one noise. Drip. There are no birds in the trees. Grey trees, still bare from the winter with boney fingers reaching up and out, line both sides of the road. The branches move in the wind, but I can’t hear them scraping against each other. The dead leaves, still in the high branches, don’t rustle. Every time my feet touch the ground there is a soft swish, more like a remembered sound, and then nothing. All I can feel is the cold dancing on my skin and what is inside me, fear. The wind does not touch my cheek. The cold is inside me. With that is fear. The fear makes me want to look behind myself. My head won’t turn. Drip. I see the sound before I hear it. A red drop of blood hits a small pool in the grass erupting minute drops of red in every direction. Drip. I stop walking. I can’t breathe anymore. My lungs feel like someone is squeezing them closed. My eyes move up. Two feet off the ground, a red drop of blood stops on the end of a blue polished toenail. It engorges itself, grows pregnant, and then drops. Drip. One foot is over the other like hands praying. Rivulets of red run down her legs switching direction off hairs and stubble. How could this happen to you? Chloe. Why you Chloe? Drip, drip. The wind makes her twist. My eyes slowly travel the red streams up her legs, first over her firm calf muscles and then around the boney knee and onto her thigh. What happened to you Chloe? “Reid, wake up. The phone is for you.” !!! |
By Lorne Oliver
Beware! Graphically Violent... But a truly remarkable suspense mystery...
I've given warning, so don't buy this book and give it a low rating because it is violent. Readers who buy it will quickly forget (I mean it!) about the violence because the suspense will be killing you....
The novel starts with the main character, Sgt Reid of the Royal Mounted Canadian Police having a dream...
About Chloe...
Another man is obsessed with Chloe! Throughout the novel, both men continuously think about Chloe. I wasn't sure they weren't the same man...
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| Instead of looking at the guide, Hillary pulses her thumb on the channel button stopping for a few seconds on each show to see what it is and if it’ll pique her interest for a few minutes. You’re supposed to love the little habits people have. According to the movies and books those little quirks are supposed to be what endear you to your partner. This one pisses me off. She usually pauses long enough on a show for me to start getting into it then moves on to whatever’s next. She quickly passes over the shows I would watch like Crime Scene Investigation, Law & Order, and Criminal Minds. She likes the infomercials, talk shows, and reality shows. She finally stops on an episode of Sex and the City. She turns the volume up a little and rolls onto her side. After I leave she’ll probably fall asleep with the TV on. “You’re dreaming about crimes now? I thought we moved to Prince Edward Island to get away from things like murder and death. Aren’t we here so that Leigh’s daddy doesn’t get late night calls where he has to leave and comes home crying or drunk? Or God forbid we get one of those calls that says, Daddy isn’t coming home.” I can feel her brown eyes burning into my back. “Don’t start, Hillary.” “I’m going to start. You said you wouldn’t get these late night calls.” “It’s one call. I’ve had three calls in four months. You know it is part of my job. You’re getting mad over nothing.” ~~~ 
Reid and his family had moved to Prince Edward Island after a major case during which Sgt. Reid had killed a serial killer of children. He had no choice, but since they'd not had enough evidence, nobody was really sure, except Reid, that he killed the right man...even though the murders stopped.
Of course, procedure required that Reid spend time with a psychiatrist, but his wife Hillary was still not sure that he should have continued in RMCP, so Reid had let her believe that he would be more involved with administration in his new job, not on the streets. Which wasn't true...
But when the first body was found near Bloomington Beach, his boss called Reid immediately and assigned him as lead officer. He really didn't have much choice--there was nobody on the Island that had experience!
Reid really did not think he would have to be seeing multiple murders on what was now coined to be Red Island--with the Red Island Killer name for the murderer-- because the killer had contacted a newspaper reporter and said he wasn't stopping until the entire island was covered with blood...and he's be looking for more beautiful women soon, out on the beaches and other places where he could see their tattoos...
Then taking them to empty cabins or other housing used by those who came only during the summer...For his...work...
The Killer was very smart and knowledgeable about committing crimes and leaving no evidence. He'd been doing it since he was young and had killed raccoons and other predators on his grandfather's farm, not with a trap, but with a knife and his bare hands...Unfortunately that early positive feedback led him to believe there was no problem with his solving problems with death...especially when he got to school and he began to be physically attacked by bullies...and his mother would say only that he had to learn to stand up for himself....
Readers will move back and forth between the Killer's life and that of Reid, as he gets pulled back into the life of a serial killer who soon knows his name--and that of his family! This is the first in a series...so right now we don't know whether that bit of paranormal dreaming will continue; however, in this novel, the writer uses words from Reid's dream for both men...and it heightens the suspense and spookiness! Yikes!
I think this is a great debut...Reid is a man I'm looking forward to learning more about. I was not impressed with his wife; but am willing to give her a chance to see if she can learn to live with Reid as he is...if not, Reid will go looking even more. I hope she changes! Oliver does an outstanding job of creating the newspaper reporter who eggs on anybody and everybody to allow her to use their words against them! Highly recommended if you can deal with the violence...
GABixlerReviews
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Lorne Oliver was born and raised in the rural area outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It was the perfect place for him to grow up because his favorite thing to do was go hiking through the woods as often as he could with his dog Bullet at his side and a notebook in his backpack. He first made the conscious decision to be a writer when he was ten and the school librarian asked if anyone knew any Canadian authors. He put his hand up and the librarian said to come back when he was published. Years later that same librarian came to the book launch of the first published anthology he was in. It was not until June of 2012 that he published his first solo novel, Red Island.
Throughout his life the need and want to write was always there. It was his saving grace. It was not until the age of thirty that he settled on a career path and went for school to learn to cook. Graduation was coming and his future wife asked, "where do you want to go?" He decided on the east coast and Prince Edward Island. Two days after graduation he was on a plane, two months later his wife and two children followed. It was there in PEI that Lorne found the inspiration for Red Island. His wife was interning with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police giving him access and opportunity to interview officers and see how they did things.
His writing style and focus changed many times throughout the years, but he always went back to the mystery genre. He wants to show a sense of reality in his fiction whether it is through dialogue or true to life violence and circumstance.
When he's not writing or marketing his work he is usually watching something that has to do with the
mystery/suspense/thriller genres. The rest of the time is spent with his family and four dogs having as much fun as they can. His favorite thing to do is have new experiences. "Every new experience from being involved in a car chase, standing up to a killer, climbing into a septic tank, or getting lost in the Rockies are all experiences that I can write about and give that sense of realism to the reader."
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