Synopsis:
Excerpt:
I was up among the hungry creatures, standing at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness. Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles’s edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really was no separation between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders. Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control.
I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me?
Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I shouldn’t take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal who would drive someone to do what my wife had done. Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city. If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. But I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be my turn to see if I could fly.
I stepped back from the edge.
Let’s visit some other sites 😉
Author Bio:
Athol Dickson’s mystery, suspense, and literary novels have won three Christy Awards and an Audie Award. Suspense fans who enjoyed Athol’s They Shall See God will love his latest novel, January Justice, the first installment in a new mystery series called The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs. The second and third novels in the series, Free Fall in February, and A March Murder, are coming in 2013.
Critics have favorably compared Athol’s work to such diverse authors as Octavia Butler (Publisher’s Weekly), Hermann Hesse (The New York Journal of Books) and Flannery O’Connor (The New York Times). Athol lives with his wife in southern California. Please visit his website at www.AtholDickson.com, and like his Facebook fan page.
Praise for Athol Dickson’s novels:
“Atmospheric, well-paced and powerfully imagined . . . a highly entertaining nail-biter.” (Publishers Weekly)
“. . . richly imagined . . . lyrically written . . . artfully constructed.” (Bookwire)
“. . . well-written . . . intelligent . . . suspenseful . . . engrossing.” (Library Journal)
“. . . elegant prose . . . very well written.” (The New York Review of Books )
Websites & Links:
Giveaway!
To get everyone in the spirit of the book release party, Mr. Dickson has generously offered to give away one ebook copy of his book and a $10 Amazon gift card to one winner of the hop. Just visit the stops & tell us what you think!
If you’d like to join in on an upcoming tour just stop by their sites and sign up today!
Awesome post. Thank you for sharing.
Sounds like an amazing book. I would love to read it. It has a cool cover.