Tag: Prologue

Blog Blitz: Fractured by Billy McLaughlin

Today I get to kick off the Blog Blitz for Fractured by Billy McLaughlin!  I will be sharing the Prologue with you and there will be reviews later this week on the tour!

Book Description:

Ellie Caldwell lives in constant fear. Two deadly events in her life have left her forever traumatized. One, she relives in her nightmares. The other, so devastating she has completely omitted it from her memory. Once more she’s staring into the face of death. Locked up in a psychiatric ward, she finds herself accused of murder. She’ll have to run for her life if she wants to save it…

Marissa Hall lives in a constant battle with her inner voices after she was left with devastating burns on her face. In her mind, as she descends into madness, revenge is the only way of evening the score. She’ll have to destroy someone else’s life to take back her own…

Two women’s lives will intertwine as one’s quest for truth faces off with the other’s lust for revenge.

Book Trailer for Fractured:

Pre-order Fractured here.
Publication day: August 31st
 209 pages

Prologue:

A red ribbon of blood slithered toward the toppled chair and broken table.

On the visible side of the kitchen, a body lay in a flattened heap, while a naked flame had burned up in the large pan on the five-ringed range. Flames flickered orange against the walls of winter grey. A clock ticked in unison, marrying the sound of crackling embers.​

The scent of burning flesh was like charcoal round the rim of her nostrils. She ran her tongue along her crusty dry lip, the taste of devoured Rioja rested on the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t remember drinking the bottle. Nor anything that had happened afterwards.​

A glance in the mirror, its silver frame draped in a black, ornate foliage design, her ghostlike reflection pale and listless from shock.​

She forced herself to move forward. Just one step.​

The world slowed down. She felt numb. A flash, not exactly a memory but a snapshot of something horrid and almost forgotten. Her mind was frantic, her exterior perfectly poised and fashioned into the epitome of calm. When she looked back into the mirror, she saw nothing more than the frame of a mannequin in the window of a shop.​

She eyed the outside world at the far end of the kitchen. Where had daylight gone?​

Dread rattled; a ball of vomit forming in her gut and rising toward her chest. She threw her hands to her mouth and killed off a scream. Her eyes blinked frantically. She wanted to call his name. Maybe if she said it loud enough, he would hear her and open his eyes. Her legs began to quiver, almost as if they were no longer her own and she couldn’t control them.​

As she gripped the frame of the kitchen door, she saw something move at the corner of her eye. A hand. Someone else was there. It crept slowly from behind the breakfast bar. It was then the woman realised she and her husband weren’t alone. The clock continued to tick. She could no longer hold it back. The scream she had fought so gallantly to muffle finally exploded and rang through the air.​


About the Author:

Billy McLaughlin is the author of the Glasgow based DI Phil Morris series. Opening with the #1 thriller ‘Lost Girl,’ he followed it up with ‘In the Wake of Death‘ & ‘The Daughter‘. Work on a fourth DI Phil Morris entry is now underway.

His novelette ‘Invisible‘ first arrived in March 2016 to rave reviews and was then followed by stand-alone novella ‘The Dead of Winter‘ and the award-winning ‘Krampus‘, a novelette released to raise money for an illness called NKH.

Boasting nearly 20,000 downloads in 2 years, McLaughlin unleashes his seventh release ‘Fractured‘ on 31st August. The story reveals the fate of a character who previously graced the pages of his work, whilst spinning an entirely new twisted tale about two traumatized women who seek vengeance.

To see more information on future releases, please see his Facebook Page or contact him via email.

**Jessica’s review of Invisible is here.**

Contact Billy:
Email: billymclaughlinbooks@gmail.com
Twitter @bilbob2

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