Pray for the Innocent
Page 32
My awesome friends in Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and The Writer’s Center. My cyberpals on Facebook, Twitter, and throughout the blogosphere! Such tremendous support!
The P.J. Parrish sisters (Kris Montee and Kelly Nichols), Reed Farrel Coleman, Elaine Raco Chase, and the late Ann McLaughlin. The inimitable Noreen Wald. Terrific teachers and mentors!
Donna Andrews, Ellen Crosby, John Gilstrap, and Art Taylor. The Rumpi, providing priceless writing and publishing advice and support, monthly, from the comfort of John’s amazing rumpus room. You guys are the best!
My superagent, Eric Smith, for believing in me and this manuscript! (Hi Nena! Hi Langston! Hi Agent Auggie!) All the great folks at P.S. Literary, led by Curtis Russell and Carly Watters!
My extended family. (For the last time, I DO NOT owe you twenty bucks!)
My children, Mark and Stuart, and my wife, Janet: the loves of my life.
Thanks, everyone!
Also from Alan Orloff:
RUNNING FROM THE PAST
A boy in trouble. A family on the lam. A crazed ex-con bent on revenge. And a man fighting his tortured past. Can this man pull himself together in time to save his family?
Read Running from the Past, named to Examiner.com’s 2015 list of Best Mystery Books for Book Clubs. Five stars out of five!
Running from the Past was one of the first ten books selected through Amazon’s innovative Kindle Scout program!
*****
After selling his company for millions, Colby Walker takes his family—and his son’s friend Jess—on vacation, wanting nothing more than to unwind in the sun and surf. But he spots the alarming signs in short order: Jess’s downcast eyes, a familiar passivity, and angry red welts marching across the boy’s bare back. Walker understands what they mean because he’d been that boy, many years ago.
He’d suffered in silence, too.
Can Walker stand by and let the torment continue? Does he trust the authorities—the same ones who had failed him in his youth—to take care of Jess?
Hell no.
With Jess in tow, Walker packs up the minivan and takes his family on the lam, keeping one step ahead of Jess’s cruel father and unhinged ex-con aunt. When the stakes escalate and his headstrong actions put people’s lives in jeopardy, Walker must finally conquer his past before he can save those he loves.
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Running from the Past is a full-length novel of suspense.
FIRST TIME KILLER
In shock radio, nothing is too far over-the-top in the pursuit of ratings.
Not even murder.
During his twenty-six-year career, DC radio talk show host Rick Jennings steered clear of outrageous radio. Wasn’t his thing. So when WTLK execs tap him for the Afternoon Circus to land a lucrative satellite deal, Rick struggles to maintain his standards—and his dignity.
A chilling call (“I’m a longtime listener, first time killer”) leads to a gruesome discovery in a trash can. Rick spars with the “First Time” killer over the airwaves. The police are stymied. Ratings skyrocket. And First Time continues to knock off members of the Circus, phoning in to gloat afterward.
In a world of psychics and poseurs, crazy deejays and crazier callers, it’s up to Rick to bring First Time down before more people perish.
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First Time Killer is a full-length thriller novel.
RIDE-ALONG
Trey Powers never killed a cop before. Never had to.
But after his cousin Jimmy has been framed and murdered by Officer Karla Cheng, one of Hafton Police Department’s finest, Trey has no choice.
He must avenge Jimmy’s death, one way or another.
To get closer to his quarry, Trey joins the police department’s Citizen Action Team, and when a rival team member is killed, fingers point at Trey.
Now he’s the hunted one, and the harrowing race is on: Can Trey bring Cheng to justice before she frames him for murder?
Or does something even worse?
Ultimately, Trey finds his life in jeopardy—along with the lives of those he loves—after embarking on a terrifying ride-along with Jimmy’s cold-blooded murderer.
Trey Powers never killed a cop before.
Never had to.
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Ride-Along is a full-length novel of suspense.
THE TASTE
After his mother dies, Jake Wheeler returns to his birthplace of Dark Springs, West Virginia, seeking solace among his kin. But his family’s unique comfort food includes some ingredients Jake’s not sure he can stomach.
They eat dead people.
Discovering that skeleton in the pantry and adjusting to a new diet turn out to be the least of Jake’s worries. Storm clouds have gathered over Dark Springs, threatening the family’s peaceful existence. Ax-wielding clan patriarch Dallas Pike and his band of renegade followers have decided upon a violent plan to increase the dwindling food supply. Why wait for your next meal to die naturally if you can hunt it down instead?
With the survival of the entire clan at stake, Jake wages war against madman Pike.
He also battles an even more terrifying opponent.
Himself.
After all, Jake has THE TASTE.
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The Taste is a full-length horror/thriller novel in the tradition of Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
About the Author
Alan Orloff is the author of the Agatha Award finalist Diamonds for the Dead and the Last Laff Mystery series (Killer Routine, Deadly Campaign), all from Midnight Ink. His suspense novel Running from the Past was one of Kindle Scout’s first selections.
Writing as his darker half, Zak Allen, he’s published First Time Killer (thriller), Ride-Along (suspense), and The Taste (horror/thriller).
Over the past few years, he’s published numerous short stories in publications including: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, NEEDLE, Shotgun Honey Presents: Locked & Loaded, Jewish Noir, Flash Bang Mysteries, Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, Windward: Best New England Crime Stories 2016, Mystery Weekly, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Shotgun Honey, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Noir at the Salad Bar, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017, and The Night of the Flood.
Before Alan stepped off the corporate merry-go-round, he had an eclectic (some might say disjointed) career. As an engineer, he worked on nuclear submarines, supervised assembly workers in factories, facilitated technology transfer from the Star Wars program, and learned to stack washing machines three high in a warehouse with a forklift. He even started his own recycling and waste reduction newsletter business. Now he writes fiction and teaches writing workshops at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Connect with him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alanorloff) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/alanorloff)
For more information, visit www.alanorloff.com