Happy almost Halloween/Dia de los Muertos!
This post about my new release in the Huntress series is just a bit late because, well - I got married this week. To my partner in crime and in life, bestselling Scottish Noir author Craig Robertson.
So there’s the happily ever after I know some of you want! On to more bloody business.
Join
haunted Special Agent Matthew Roarke and his FBI team on the hunt for that most
rare of killers... a female serial.
Reminder: this series is
chronological and is meant to be read in order, starting with Huntress
Moon.
So my publisher has made Huntress Moon free to read for Amazon Prime members.
And all four previous books are
also on sale for $1.99 US, 99p UK, and 1.49 AU on Kindle - so all of you can
catch up!
If you buy the Kindle versions, you
can also add RC Bray’s fantastic, award-winning narration for just $3.99, a
great Audible bargain.
And in case you hadn’t heard, I’m
very excited to report that this Thriller Award-nominated series is now in
active development for television. I'm attached as executive producer and have
written the pilot. But that’s going to be a whole other newsletter. One thing
at a time.
---- SPOILERS ----
In the new book, Roarke and his FBI
team are forced to confront the new political reality when they are pressured
to investigate a series of mysterious threats vowing death to college
rapists... while deep in the Arizona wilderness, mass killer Cara Lindstrom is
fighting a life-and-death battle of her own.
For thousands of years, women have
been prey.
No more.
CONTENT
WARNING:
Let's look at the Hunger
Moon early reviews
so far:
-
Netgalley
and Goodreads: almost entirely 4-5 star except for one 1-star
-
UK
Amazon reviews: 100% 5-star.
-
US
Amazon reviews: split exactly down the middle: fifty percent 5-star, and
fifty percent 1-star
It’s pretty safe to say from this
sampling that if you're somehow still a Trump supporter, you will NOT like this book. It’s
very strange for me to have to say that, because the series is and very clearly
has been from the outset, about a woman
who kills sexual predators.
What is truly surprising is that
these readers claim they didn't find any of the previous books political.
This just floors me.
OF COURSE the Huntress books are
political. They’re an exploration and indictment of what are to me the greatest
atrocities in the world, specifically rape culture and child abuse. The
books couldn't be more political. It really makes me wonder what these people
thought they were reading.
I'm also not surprised, but always
shocked, when people say they read the Huntress series as "an escape." Reading
about sexual predators, child abusers, human traffickers, and serial killers is
an escape? Really? I don’t know - personally I prefer the beach. Or dancing. Or yoga.
Or spending time with friends. Or if escape is all I want from a book, I tend
to choose one that is not about sexual predators. There is way too much of that
around me in real life.
But that’s exactly why I write this
series. To change that.
I have always honestly expected ALL
the books to be disturbing and provocative, not "an escape."
I've always intended this series to
spark a dialogue about the atrocity of rape culture, how it affects women,
children, and men - and to ask readers to think about real life solutions to
this horrific social, legal and spiritual problem.
I base all the crimes, predators,
social and legal failings I depict in the books on real-life crimes, real-life
predators, and real-life laws and failings of the legal and social services
system. There is nothing about any of the books that is NOT political.
In Hunger Moon I deal
squarely with the repercussions on my characters – and on the world - of having
a self-admitted sexual predator in the White House. (You remember the video. Who could ever forget it?). The characters are dealing with the new
reality that this predator is appointing cabinet members and judges and
determining policy.
How could anyone who has read the
other books have expected me NOT to write from that political reality?
But if that “Bush and Trump on the
bus” tape doesn’t horrify and anger you, then I strongly suspect my new book
will.
So you’ve been warned.
But you know what? We have to talk
about it. Because if we don’t, then rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment,
child abuse, and all the other atrocities of rape culture will just go on, and
on, and on.
Enough.
-
Alex
9 comments:
Congratulations! Wishing you many more years of continued happiness :)
Susanne
Very happy news! Congrats!
Just getting back to decent internet access and catching up on all of this. I got my copy of Hunger Moon and can't wait to dig in. I, for one, appreciate what you're writing in this series and can't agree with you more.
Also want to congratulate you again on your wedding and wish you a happy lifetime together. So happy for you both!
I loved the entire series, but especially the last one. Every word you wrote about our government, our leaders, is sadly true. Hoping you will write a 6th book, I feel so invested in Cara and Rourke. Thanks again for all your books.
Thank you, Susanne!! We're off to a great start. :)
Thank you, Barbara!
Jenni, it's always so nice to hear from you. Thanks for the well wishes and the political support. Resist. xs
Mary, I'm so glad to hear it. There's no way I wouldn't have addressed it.
Book 6 is flying along - I never thought I could pull it all together but I think I'm actually going to pull it off! I truly appreciate your support.
when will book 6 be available in the u k?
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