Blog Archives
Out of Mind
Out of Mind follows Paige as she rebuilds her life after a violent attack and the loss of her closest friend, all while her dangerous ex-lover Max Dovic remains a shadow over every step she takes. The story cuts between Paige’s attempt to find peace in Michigan and Max’s own slippery survival, creating a tense back-and-forth rhythm that carries through the book. The plot keeps tightening as their worlds drift closer again, which gives the story a steady pulse that never really relaxes.
Reading this book gave me a strange mix of nerves and curiosity. The writing feels punchy and quick, almost like it is trying to outrun the danger inside the story. I liked that. I also felt the emotional weight of Paige’s grief in a way that surprised me. Her memories show up like bruises. Small, painful, and always there. Sometimes the dialogue moves fast, and at other times the scenes linger on the characters’ inner messiness. That shift made the story feel alive. It kept pulling me through, even when the subject matter got dark.
Max’s chapters left me unsettled. They show a different angle, one that is slick and cold. I found myself rooting for Paige even harder because of how sharply the book paints that contrast. The pacing kicks up in the middle and does not really let up afterward. I enjoyed that jump in energy. Some twists were wild and maybe a little over the top, but I did not mind because the book leans into that dramatic style. It feels like it knows exactly what kind of ride it wants to be.
The story gives thrills, heartache, and a good punch of tension. I would recommend Out of Mind to readers who enjoy fast suspense, emotional stakes, and characters who carry real scars. It is a good pick for someone who wants a gripping story that stays close to the characters’ feelings and keeps the pace hot all the way through.
Pages: 293 | ASIN: B0FP7P4RJ2
Voodoo and the Bayou
Once Upon a Time in the Big Easy follows a former hitman down to New Orleans as he tracks a kidnapped girl trapped in the underworld of human trafficking. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I wanted him to have a challenge of being a hero and not only saving a young woman but taking down a disgusting scoundrel.
Was there a reason why you chose this location as the backdrop for your story?
New Orleans is such a mysterious city, historically with voodoo and the bayou in its landscape. Made me think of intrigue for the readers.
Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Chubby Pone and the direction of the next book?
Consequences is the next adventure for Pone as he races against time to save his handler, who was poisoned by a bullet and is in a deep coma. He tries to find the culprit and a cure.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
For a young girl kidnapped by her father. The task gives him more than he bargain for as Theiler Lebeau throws him into a world of gambling, contraband, prostitution, and incest. The Troubleshooter puts his life on the line again to help those who can’t help themselves.
Ending Theiler’s bayou fabulous life of disgust is top priority, along with rescuing a young girl and others, while crumbling an evil empire.
Autobiography: Winner of the International Writers Inspiring Change: Most Inspiring Author Award in 2017 for the horror/thriller “Things That Go Bump in the Night: Here There Be Monsters,” “Crabbe H. Appleton: At your service” with Mercury Slim short stories and song lyrics.
The Depth That Horror Offers
Blood on the Trailhead follows the Chief of Police for a state park who is investigating several cases involving a mutilated body, strange glyphs, and a missing child, all leading to a supernatural cause. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Our inspiration all started around the Indigenous myth of the Tah-tah-kle’-ah. Feel free to Google it, but be warned, it will be a big spoiler. Therefore, we don’t want to elaborate here, knowing many people have not read the book yet.
We were also very inspired by the beauty and the vastness (Redwoods) surrounding Ferndale, CA, which is the town that we modeled the small city of Lost Grove after. There is still so much wilderness that holds pockets of secrets that we have yet to uncover. We found this fertile ground to explore in this story.
What were some ideas that were important for you to personify in your characters?
A big one for this book was nature conservation and the preservation of cultures, specifically the Wiyot tribe of Northern CA. Both of these are throughlines that run through the horror and mystery in the story. One of the other ideas we cling to in the Lost Grove series is the close-knit mentality of the small town of just under 1,500 residents, their resilience, and camaraderie. We see this among the teens and in the small police force. Lastly, and this is more so a focus for Alex, is always keeping a sense of humor in the characters that feels grounded and true to who they are.
What intrigues you about the horror and paranormal genres that led you to write this book?
Well, we both absolutely love horror in any fictional medium. We watch over one hundred horror films a year and host our own year-end Horror Oscars. We also love the depth that horror offers its lead characters, placing them in life-or-death situations that reveal everything about a person. The draw to paranormal is the intrigue of the unexplained that exists and persists in our world. The paranormal also gives us a chance to explore things beyond what we experience in most of our day-to-day lives. Charlotte, in particular, has always been fond of folklore and superstition, which are ripe to explore in this sub-genre.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
Regarding Lost Grove, they can expect book four next fall. The working title is The Devil’s Acre, and it will return readers to Lost Grove during one of its darkest winters. Cold Cases, isolation…it may be one of the more unsettling books in the series so far.
Charlotte is also wrapping up an epic fantasy trilogy, Trust of the Magdrid that she has been working on for some time now. She hopes to release the first in that series late next year as well.
Alex is in the midst of his own mystery trilogy. Book one, The Disappearance at Devil’s Churn, is complete. He is planning to begin work on book two at the start of 2026. He is waiting until he finishes book three before releasing any of the books, as they will be released in quick succession.
Charlotte Zang Links: GoodReads | Website
Alex J Knudsen Links: GoodReads | Website | Facebook
Just outside town, a local teen stumbles on strange, twisting glyphs scorched into the trees, eerily similar to those once studied by an Indigenous academic researcher who disappeared just years earlier. Desperate for answers, she turns to a friend with family ties to the Wiyot Nation, only to be warned off: some things are better left buried.
When a local teenager goes missing, town meetings turn ugly, campers cancel in droves, and the pressure mounts with each bloodied trail. On the eve of the county fair, Seth is faced with the burden of an old case threatening to resurface and unravel his career, along with the rising dread of a community coming apart.
Because what waits in the forest isn’t just an echo of the past. It’s hunting again.
Tokyo Juku
Tokyo Juku begins with a bang, literally and emotionally. A young student named Mana discovers her teacher dead in a cram school classroom, his body crumpled under the sterile glow of fluorescent lights. Detective Hiroshi Shimizu and his team step into a Tokyo dense with pressure, ambition, and secrets. What follows is a layered mystery that weaves together the cutthroat world of education, the hidden costs of success, and the loneliness tucked behind the city’s polished exterior. Author Michael Pronko takes what might seem like a simple murder case and turns it into a study of human drive, shame, and survival.
The writing pulled me in right away. Pronko’s style is sharp and cinematic. The scenes snap from one point of view to another like the cuts in a film, yet nothing feels rushed. The descriptions of Tokyo at night, its cram schools glowing like lanterns, its streets humming with ambition, feel both beautiful and sad. There’s something almost tender about how he writes the city, even when it’s cruel. What I liked most was how the story balanced the crime with emotion. The mystery kept me guessing, but it was the characters’ quiet struggles, the overworked teachers, the anxious students, the tired detectives, that stuck with me. They all felt painfully real, like people you might pass on a crowded train and never think twice about.
Pronko dives deep into conversations and inner thoughts, and sometimes I wanted the story to move faster. But even then, I couldn’t stop reading. I liked how he made me feel the weight of every decision, every word unsaid. The book doesn’t just show a crime; it shows what happens to people who live inside constant expectation. It’s not only about murder, it’s about burnout, ambition, and how easily a person can crack under the strain. The writing feels clean but heavy with meaning, and that balance hit me hard.
Tokyo Juku isn’t just a detective story; it’s a mirror held up to modern Tokyo and anyone chasing success at any cost. I’d recommend it to readers who love smart mysteries with heart, and to anyone who enjoys books that make you sit back and think after you close them. It’s perfect for fans of slow-burn suspense, city stories, and those who don’t mind a little soul-searching between the clues.
Pages: 314 | ASIN : B0FLW78XTZ
Rats in a Cage: The Black Box of Misery, Surviving Addiction and Trauma in a Brutal Social Experiment
Christopher Clark’s Rats in a Cage is a raw and unflinching novel about addiction, survival, and the brutal cycle of despair. The story weaves through the lives of Mike, Blake, Pookie, Betty, Bam, Milo, and others who are either lost on the streets of Houston or trapped in a strange underground experiment that tests the limits of choice, hope, and human weakness. This is a thriller about broken people facing impossible odds and sometimes finding a spark of clarity in the middle of chaos. The drops you right into grimy motel rooms, violent corners, and surreal “rehab” cells where the difference between life and death hangs on a decision to open a fridge or not.
Reading this book was like riding a rollercoaster with no safety bar. I admired how the author didn’t hold back on the ugly parts. The writing has a grit that matches the subject matter, and that makes it feel authentic. Some of the dialogue felt so real it was almost uncomfortable to read, like I was eavesdropping on private pain. The multiple perspectives kept the pace quick. I appreciated that it gave me a panoramic view of how addiction creeps into every kind of life. The horror of the “black fridge” experiment stuck with me. It felt both symbolic and terrifying, and it made me wonder what I would choose if I were in their shoes.
Emotionally, this book took me for a spin. I felt angry at times, frustrated at the characters’ choices, then suddenly sad when glimpses of their pasts showed how much they’d already lost. Bam’s turn toward hope gave me chills, and Betty’s struggle was heartbreaking. Milo’s spiral made me want to look away, but I couldn’t. Clark writes with a plainspoken honesty that cuts deep. It’s not polished or poetic, but that’s what makes it work. It feels like he’s lived pieces of this himself, and that made me trust the story more.
I think Rats in a Cage is for readers who aren’t afraid to look straight at the darkest corners of human behavior. If you want a hopeful, easy ride, this isn’t it. But if you want to feel shaken, challenged, and maybe a little changed, then this book delivers. I’d recommend it to people who appreciate gritty urban dramas, those who’ve brushed against addiction in their own lives, or anyone willing to face uncomfortable truths head-on.
Pages: 274 | ASIN: B0FKPKX9FJ
Humans Are Very Complicated
Mind the Blinds follows a seventeen-year-old boy living in Nigeria, who struggles with alexithymia and antisocial personality disorder while navigating a life marked by family violence, peer pressure, and dangerous encounters. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I finished watching a Korean drama series called MOUSE, and was like, well, this is good. It had dived into the topic about psychopaths and the production of some kind of technology or medication that could determine if a child was going to be born a psychopath or not. Everyone explores the psychology of adult men or women, but I thought it would be interesting if I could write and explore the psychology of a young boy who had an anti-social condition, suffering from domestic violence.
What aspects of the human condition do you find particularly interesting that could make for great fiction?
I do like the aspect of human psychology – why they do things, what they are thinking, how they will survive in different situations, what they will do when given one or no option. Humans are very complicated, both in their actions and reasoning, so it’s really interesting to dive into the complexity of the human mind, even in fiction.
What themes were particularly important for you to explore in this book?
To me, I loved exploring themes of domestic violence and how it affects the minds of children, directly or indirectly. I felt it was absolutely necessary to lay it all out in an unforgivably raw form as it pertained to the main character. But I also wanted to explore the nature of love the main character had for his little brother. I believe children or young people are shaped by family and the society they live in.
What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it out?
I am currently working on another psychological thriller in which a college student is arrested for the murder of another female student, and when his sister goes missing, he takes extreme measures to find her and the culprit, whilst under the accusing eye of a detective. It’s a mystery versus a psychological thriller, and it should be out in 2026.
Author Links: Website | Amazon
All Elyas wants is to ace his final exams and escape from his abusive father. Everything changes when three students Elyas fought turn up dead. The same night, in an act of self-defense, Elyas sets off a dangerous chain of events that pulls him deeper into darkness.
Meanwhile, Detective James Afizere is on the hunt for a notorious serial killer. The investigation points toward Elyas, but there’s no solid proof. Soon, the lines between victim and killer begin to blur. Can Elyas find the strength to emerge from the shadows, or will the past consume him?
A story of survival, betrayal and manipulation, Becky Anyanwu’s MIND THE BLINDS is a gripping psychological thriller.
The Nameless Dead
The Nameless Dead, by Leta Serafim, follows Greek police chief Yiannis Patronas as he investigates the murder of a child and uncovers a tangle of prejudice, corruption, and personal vendettas in a small village. The plot moves between the procedural grind of the investigation and the tense undercurrents of rural life, where long-held grudges and deep suspicion run through every interaction. As Patronas digs deeper, the case grows darker, revealing the complicated human motivations behind violence and the cost of seeking truth in a place where silence often feels safer.
Serafim writes with a sharpness, letting tension seep in without shouting it at you. I liked how she allowed the setting to act almost like another character, with its own moods and shadows. The pacing wasn’t always even, but that slow burn worked for me. It gave time for the moral weight of the case to settle in. What I liked most was the way the story dealt with bias, not in a grand, preachy way, but in the small, sideways glances and unspoken assumptions that shape the investigation.
Still, there were moments when the dialogue felt a bit stiff, almost like it was holding back. I sometimes wanted the characters to spill over more, to show the rawness behind their guarded expressions. The plot itself is clever, though, and Serafim manages to weave in enough misdirection to keep me second-guessing my hunches. There’s a certain melancholy in the writing, a recognition that not every mystery can be tied up neatly, and that honesty often comes at a price.
I’d recommend The Nameless Dead to readers who like their crime fiction steady and thoughtful, with more emphasis on atmosphere and moral complexity than flashy twists. If you enjoy stories where the setting feels alive and the characters live in shades of gray, then you’ll enjoy this book.
Pages: 224 | ASIN : B0DF51DJ22
LITERARY TITAN 