Bad Things: Untitled Marshall Thriller 2 by Michael Marshall

Marshall recalls Stephen King's ability to set a story in the world of the commonplace, then suddenly jolt it into a more hellish realm. -New York Times Bad things have always happened in Black Ridge, Washington-and Michael Marshall, the acclaimed, bestselling, Phillip K. Dick Award-winning author of The Intruders (Scary brilliance -Baltimore Sun) and Straw Men (Brilliantly written and scary as hell -Stephen King), lets readers experience all the exceptional nastiness. Marshall's Bad Things is an electrifying combination of psychological suspense, mystery, horror, and paranormal activity that no fan of ingenious, intelligent thrillers will want to miss. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly At the start of this unsettling novel of supernatural suspense from bestseller Marshall (The Intruders), four-year-old Scott Henderson dies from no apparent cause after falling into a lake in Black Ridge, Wash. The boy's devastated parents, John and Carol, divorce, and both leave the area. Three years later, John is lured back to Black Ridge by a chilling message from a woman who says she knows what killed his son--a siren call that John can't ignore. John's return is a trigger for other ominous events that will lead him to relive Scott's death and confront the dissolution of his former life. The small town's surface normality contrasts nicely with the unnerving behavior of some residents and even inanimate objects (e.g., cars that suddenly won't start). While much of what's going on doesn't make a lot of sense, this spooky tale shows Marshall (who writes horror and SF as Michael Marshall Smith) has a knack not only for the frisson of dread but also the telling psychological insight. (May) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. About the Author Michael Marshall is the author of the trilogy that includes The Straw Men, The Upright Man, and Blood of Angels, as well as the stand-alone novels The Servants, The Intruders, Bad Things, and Killer Move. He also works as a screenwriter for clients in London and Los Angeles, and is currently writing a television pilot set in New York City. He lives in London, England, with his wife and son. Review This spooky tale shows Marshall...has a knack not only for the frisson of dread but also the telling psychological insight. (Publishers Weekly on BAD THINGS) A genuinely scary thriller with satisfyingly malevolent villains. (The Sun Herald (Sydney) on BAD THINGS) Marshall builds up suspense slowly . . . Black Ridge - like the Maine towns populated by Stephen King's characters - is not a place you want to visit. (Booklist on BAD THINGS) This is a psychological thriller guaranteed to keep you up at nights. (Arcadian Lifestyle) Fast-moving, sinister and highly accomplished...This is ferocious story-telling of the highest order, with corkscrew twists and turns that make it deliciously scary as the secrets unfold. (Daily Mail (London) on BAD THINGS) Michael Marshall is the new Stephen King, to the nth degree. He successfully complements Carol O'Connell's tormented characters for roller-coaster-like psychological twists and thrills....BAD THINGS deserves six stars. (www.BookReporter.com on BAD THINGS) taut action and appealing characters (San Francisco Chronicle) Review This spooky tale shows Marshall...has a knack not only for the frisson of dread but also the telling psychological insight. (Publishers Weekly on BAD THINGS) A genuinely scary thriller with satisfyingly malevolent villains. (The Sun Herald (Sydney) on BAD THINGS) Marshall builds up suspense slowly . . . Black Ridge - like the Maine towns populated by Stephen King's characters - is not a place you want to visit. (Booklist on BAD THINGS) This is a psychological thriller guaranteed to keep you up at nights. (Arcadian Lifestyle) Fast-moving, sinister and highly accomplished...This is ferocious story-telling of the highest order, with corkscrew twists and turns that make it deliciously scary as the secrets unfold. (Daily Mail (London) on BAD THINGS) Michael Marshall is the new Stephen King, to the nth degree. He successfully complements Carol O'Connell's tormented characters for roller-coaster-like psychological twists and thrills....BAD THINGS deserves six stars. (www.BookReporter.com on BAD THINGS) taut action and appealing characters (San Francisco Chronicle) From the Back Cover From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Intruders and The Straw Men comes a nerve-shattering story of guilt, rage, deadly secrets, and very, very . . . bad things Three years ago, lawyer John Henderson watched his four-year-old son tumble from a jetty into the lake outside their Washington home. In a terrible instant, a life all too brief and innocent ended. But it wasn't drowning, the fall, or even some previously undetected internal defect that killed the little boy. Scott Henderson had simply, inexplicably . . . died. Today, John is a different man-divorced, living a solitary existence in a beach house in Oregon, working as a waiter in a restaurant that caters to the summer crowd. Withdrawn from a life and past too painful to revisit, he touches no one and no one touches him. Then one night he receives a short and profoundly disturbing e-mail message from a stranger. It reads: I know what happened. It's enough to pull John back to Black Ridge-the one place on earth he'd hoped never to return to-in search of answers to the mystery that shattered his world. In this small, isolated Pacific Northwest community, populated in large part by descendants of the original settlers, the shadows now seem even darker and more sinister than when tragedy first drove him away-and the wind whipping down out of the primal forest can chill a man to his soul. It seems that bad things have always happened in this town of generations-old secrets-and are happening still. The deeper John digs into his own past, and into local history, the more danger he draws toward himself . . . and toward his estranged and helpless family. And though he doesn't know it, he's not the only one who's been called back to Black Ridge. And that's a very bad thing . . . A twisting, relentlessly thrilling, and consistently surprising novel of psychological suspense, Michael Marshall's Bad Things is a masterwork of chilling brilliance that will keep the reader guessing right to the final page. Bad things don't just happen to other people. They're waiting to happen to you, too.