The Lost Child
by Thomas Grant Bruso
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Contemporary Crime/Thriller
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BLURB:
Newspaper reporter Luke Sorenson has recently moved to a new town
in upstate New York. Despite the change in scenery, Luke cannot run away from a
brutal, harrowing past driven by the death of his only child, Emily.
Soon,
Luke is propelled into a dangerous case of child abduction, an eerie reminder
of losing his daughter. An eight-year-old boy named Daniel Hadley is kidnapped
from his own bedroom and it is Luke, battling his own demons, who is assigned
the story of the year.
As
pieces of Luke’s mysterious, violent past are revealed, so are the sinister
secrets to his daughter’s demise, sending Luke into a tailspin of heavy
drinking and self-torment.
The
search for Daniel is on, but it may be too late for everyone involved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt One:
Prologue
He watches her. She is alone.
She is six, maybe seven years old. She is having a picnic in
the front yard with her dolls.
The girl’s hair is the color of spun honey. Her eyes, dark
brown, innocent, come alive when he hears her talking to one of her plastic
dolls.
Her voice is lively, soft, and gentle.
She laughs as the man shifts his footing in the shadowy
woods across from her house. A small branch snaps underfoot, the sound of his
weight on the thick twig imploding like fireworks.
She looks up from grooming her doll’s hair and stares in his
direction. The man creeps behind a leafy spruce tree to hide.
Two vehicles pass along the quiet suburban street. The man
stares around the massive tree, watching the young girl.
The sound of her humming to her dolls makes him smile. A
splinter of electricity vibrates through his rangy limbs. Something mechanical
surges through his veins and up and down his body to his scraggly face.
Trembling, he reaches a gnarled hand out against the thick
bark of the tree to balance himself. His head is dizzy. His legs are unsteady.
He knows this feeling. It is familiar, like the blade of a
knife skimming the surface of young flesh. Then he hears the sound of scared
children panting and crying in the back of his head. He sees their frightened
eyes, pleading for their parents, and he smiles.
He slips back into the brush behind the birch tree.
Watching. Waiting.
A dog walker passes two feet away. He skulks back into the
coiling shadows so they won’t see him.
He wipes sweat from his neck with the back of his hand.
The man’s identity is almost discovered when the sizeable
black lab points its nose toward the dense foliage. The owner tugs on the dog’s
leash lightly and starts down the street, around the corner; now, they are out
of sight.
The man waits for a second or two until he’s sure they’re
gone. He hugs the tree limb and cocks an ear to the sound of the young girl’s
mother yelling at her from the brightly lit porch.
“It’s getting dark, Susie. Come inside.”
Susie.
Sweet little Susie, the cigar-smoking man muses.
Curly-haired Susie. Doll-grooming Susie.
When the time is right, he will be back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Thomas Grant Bruso knew he wanted to be a writer at an early age. He has been a voracious reader of genre fiction since childhood.
His literary
inspirations are Ray Bradbury, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Jim Grimsley, Karin
Fossum, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Bruso loves
animals, reading books, and writing fiction, and prefers Sudoku to crossword
puzzles.
In another
life, he was a freelance writer and wrote for magazines and newspapers. In
college, he won the Hermon H. Doh Sonnet Competition. Now, he writes and
publishes fiction and reviews books for his hometown newspaper, The
Press-Republican.
He lives in
upstate New York.
Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thomgrantbruso?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomasgrantbrusoauthor/?hl=en
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8591689.Thomas_Grant_Bruso
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomasgrantbruso/
Buy link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Child-Thomas-Grant-Bruso-ebook/dp/B0CJ6FRM5H/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY
Thomas Grant Bruso will be awarding a
$10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the
tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting my book! I appreciate it. -- Thomas Grant Bruso
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for featuring today's book.
ReplyDeleteIf you could invite any three people for dinner, whom would you invite?
ReplyDeleteGreat question: Three authors! Joyce Carol Oates, Jim Grimsley, and Patricia Cornwell. -- Thomas Grant Bruso
DeleteI enjoyed reading the blurb and excerpt. Sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marcy. -- Thomas Grant Bruso
DeleteDid you know how the story was going to end, when you started writing it? Or were you just as surprised as readers will be?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started out, I knew the initial ending. But I had multiple endings through the many drafts I had to write for publication. Some things changed during that ten-year span, as did the ending in the final published book. -- Thomas Grant Bruso.
DeleteSounds like an incredible read. I look forward to reading this.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate it. Thanks, Sherry. Thomas Grant Bruso
DeleteThanks for the interest, Marisela. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. -- Thomas Grant Bruso
ReplyDelete