Collection
Authors: John Rector
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living, dead, or somewhere in-between, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2011 by John Rector.
All rights reserved.
Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
First eBook Edition: September 2011
Published by
John Rector
Cover Design by
John Hornor Jacobs
Praise for
“A whirlpool of greed, betrayal, depravity, viciousness, and violence.
Characters gradually reveal alarming proclivities, and portents of disaster accumulate like wind-driven snow.
Rector’s spare, unadorned style makes these portents and proclivities even more jarring.
A sly and very accomplished first novel.”
—
Booklist
“Terrific narrative and real compelling style…
a cross between James Crumley and
A Simple Plan
.”
—
Ken Bruen
Shamus Award-winning author of
The Guards
“
The Cold Kiss
is a slice of tragicomic noir Americana, a spiraling tale of bad luck and viciousness leavened only by author John Rector’s savage glee at the ever-worsening state of his protagonists’ circumstances.
One of the best debuts I’ve read in a very long time.”
—
Scott Phillips
, award-winning author of
The Ice Harvest
“Tense, taut, and throat-grabbing…
Reads like a cross between
No Country for Old Men
and
Deliverance
.”
—
Eric Van Lustbader, New York Times
bestselling author
“Clever plotting and spare prose…
Dean Koontz fans will find much to like in Rector’s debut.”
—
Publisher’s Weekly
“There’s no better place to spend a few imaginative hours these days than Rector’s snowbound motel.”
—
National Review
Praise for
"Tough, dark, and beautifully told. Great storytelling."
—
David Peoples
, screenwriter of
Unforgiven, Twelve Monkeys
, and
Blade Runner
"Spare and evocative as a cornfield in autumn,
The Grove
marks the arrival of a haunting, powerful new voice in contemporary fiction. John Rector writes with deceptive grace, spinning out irresistible prose with a dark pulse between every line. This is psychological suspense at its most seductive. I loved it."
—
Sean Doolittle
, award-winning author of
Dirt, Burn, Rain Dogs, The Cleanup
, and
Safer
Praise for
“The suspense and plot twists are gripping…
This one is hard to put down.”
—
Library Journal
"
ALREADY GONE
is a terse, moody thriller by one of the best new writers to enter the scene in a very long time... John Rector is a game changer."
—
Spinetingler Magazine
THE
WALLS
AROUND
US
Contents