~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
They
kept to the shadows so no one would know they existed, and preyed on the
nameless who no one would miss. Where did they come from, and who was
protecting them? In a city that had seen every kind of savagery, they were
something new, something more than murderous. And one woman, who had thought
she had lost everything there was to lose in life, would soon find that nothing
could possibly prepare her for what would come when she entered their world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
A car came squealing around the corner, someone leaning out and throwing an empty bottle in the kid’s direction. He ducked, glass shattering on the wall behind him, and the car continued on its way, drunken curses floating on the night.
The kid stood still for a moment, face reddening and fists clenching. But he knew it wasn’t anything personal. The morons hadn’t been attacking him, just anyone small and defenseless who they happened to come upon.
He’d spent his whole life small and defenseless.
He cinched the zipper of the ski vest a little bit tighter, jerking the collar upright so that it would partially cover his ears, and headed off down the street.
He had no clue where he was heading, or when he would eat or sleep next, but he’d been on his own for years now and had come to learn the way of the streets. He figured nothing could come up that he hadn’t encountered before, and he managed to stuff way deep down into an obscure corner of his mind the longing memories of the warmth and comfort the shelter had offered the night before.
He was a survivor, always had been, and as he wandered down the nearly-deserted street, in the early morning hours of the Zone, he had no doubt that he would continue to survive.
And that was the last that anyone ever saw of him.
Excerpt
Two:
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Pam said.
“Still think it was a dog?” her partner asked.
“What else could it have been? It doesn’t take the ME over there to know that this guy’s been all chewed up.”
“What I’m getting at is it may not have been a single animal.”
“Come again? Are you thinking of a pack or something?”
“Well,” Gonzales said, “just looking at it . . .” He waved his arm in the direction of the mess on the pavement.
“That’s insane, Enrico. Who the hell ever heard of a pack of dogs attacking people in the middle of a city?”
“You ever hear of one dog doing anything that even remotely looks like that?”
“What about rats?” she asked the older cop, fearful he would laugh in her face.
“I actually thought of that myself for a moment there. It’s not the most far-fetched of possibilities.”
“No?”
“Not at all. Once, I saw what was left of an old wino eaten by rats, back when I’d been on the force not much longer than you have. But that was a guy who’d crawled under the porch of a house, probably trying to escape the weather. Besides, long ago as it’s been, from what I remember, that body didn’t look anything like this.”
“No, huh?”
“Not really, no. It looked more like he’d been nibbled on till he was worn down to practically nothing.”
Pam pointed towards the corpse.
“That’s not a bunch of nibbles,” she said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book Review
No spoilers!
You genuinely want to go into this blind
There are so many little surprise twists and "holy guacamole" moments
that will keep you on the edge of your seat
The author did a fabulous job of blending mystery and suspense along with a great cast that kept me turning pages from beginning to end. Not to mention battling my inner child from peeking ahead to see who survived and who or maybe what was responsible - I won that battle, but it was hard-fought
The story is told from alternating character perspectives.
The victims. The detectives, some of whom know more than they are sharing. The Pathologist, who is so close to retiring from all those skeletons. Jared, the scoop-sniffing investigating journalist, who I might add is more tenacious than a terrier. Karen, who works at the shelter giving her all to the clients there. I felt at times it was her way of obtaining some peace or a sense of penance.
There are many more players throughout that add little pieces here and there.
I am not sure if being able to see the story from multiple angles aided me or just sent me running amock with misdirection chasing false leads
There were a few times that I felt the story slowed a bit - Probably a good thing as my heart was constantly racing
Well developed cast of characters that I easily connected with. Some I was quick to trust, while others pinged my suspicious radar.
Turned out I wasn't always a great judge of character.
Overall a great read that will keep you engaged, on edge, and guessing till the end
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
A retired high-school teacher and former college instructor, Kevin
R. Doyle is the author of numerous short horror stories. He’s also written four
crime thrillers including The Group and The Anchor, and one horror novel, The
Litter. In the last few years, he’s begun working on the Sam Quinton private
eye series, published by Camel Press. The first Quinton book, Squatter’s
Rights, was nominated for the 2021 Shamus award for Best First PI Novel. The fourth Sam Quinton book, Clean Win, was
released in March of 2023.
Web site: kevindoylefiction.com
Facebook: facebook.com/kevindoylfiction
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6473241.Kevin_R_Doyle
BUY LINKS:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SG7NVI2
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-litter-kevin-r-doyle/1121113060?ean=9781937769369
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/512552
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-litter-1
https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-litter-by-kevin-r-doyle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
author will award a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for hosting and reviewing this book for today's post.
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteGood evening, I'm a little late to the game today, but wanted to thank you for your kind review. It was a difficult book to write, in many ways, so it's nice that it got to you the way it did.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover and the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteWho influenced you to be a writer!
ReplyDeleteTami, probably the biggest influence, though I didn't realize it at the time, was Arthur C. Clarke, the old-time science fiction writer. When I was around ten years old, I stumbled on a book of his short stories and was blown away at his ability to shock the heck out of you in a couple of thousand words.
DeleteI enjoyed this excerpt, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read for my upcoming trip to the mountains!
ReplyDeleteWhat is your writing kryptonite?
ReplyDeleteTracie, I assume you mean weakness or thing that distracts me? It's not so much on the writing end, but one of my least favorite parts of the process are after sending in finished manuscript when I start receiving edits from the publisher. In most cases, after going through edits, line edits, copy edits, proofs, then galleys comes the time to start coming up with blurbs, back cover comments, and all the other necessary tools gearing up for release. I really have to push myself to get through all of that. Far and away my least favorite part.
Delete