Deadline by William G. Hyland, Jr.
Fiction Thriller
Publish Date: 11-01-2024
Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER/ARCHWAY
You may not believe in ghosts, but you cannot deny terror.
To uncover the truth about her mother’s mysterious disappearance years ago, the estranged daughter of a renowned illusionist must overcome her fear and spend three nights in her father’s secluded gothic mansion, where he has vowed to return from the grave. Helped by an adventurous reporter, she discovers a terrifying childhood secret that thrusts her into a world of deception and jeopardy, confronting a haunting supernatural presence and dark family secrets.
DEADLINE is a supernatural, suspense thriller with a strong female protagonist, a deeply terrifying antagonist and a series of disturbing surprises that build to an ultimate shocker of an ending, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.
PROLOGUE:
An hour ago, I was almost burned to death. My life was saved by something supernatural, something not from this world. Call it what you will. A ghost, a spirit, a presence.
The events I now chronicle were the real thing. They happened to me at Sebastian Castle, the mansion of the famed illusionist, Nicholas Sebastian.
Thomas Veil stopped typing and stared at his computer screen. The smell of smoke and ash still lingered in his hair and clothes as he edited the article. He had changed the working title three times in the last five minutes:
Life After Death?
The Mystery of Faith
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Nicholas Sebastian: A Modern Horror Story
by Thomas Veil
Features Editor, The Los Angeles Mirror
A darkness stirred within Veil that he could not comprehend. The hair on the back of his hands prickled upward as he typed: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”(H.P. Lovecraft) If that is true, I can assure you of one thing. Spiritual forces exist. I have no doubt about that now. Evil is something real. Over the past three days, I became part of an obscene horror story. How easy it was to be drawn in.
But this story’s origins began twenty years ago—with one man’s obsession with his wife, and life beyond the grave.
Veil stopped writing.
His mind sprinted in circles as his right hand trembled with exhaustion. He knew there would be no sleep for him tonight.
When the thrumming wind blew an overhanging tree branch against the roof, Veil flinched. The muscles in his throat tightened. It was still there: the fear seeped in. Ghastly images rose, emotion overtaking reason, filling Veil’s mouth with a bitter taste like a copper penny. The image of her face was cemented in the shadow of his mind: black galaxies of eyes shot with red.
In that moment, he declined his head and felt a shiver plaiting up his back.
Somehow Thomas Veil sensed that someone loomed behind him, even before the hand fell on his shoulder.
About the Author:
WILLIAM G. HYLAND JR. is the award nominated author of four widely praised historical biographies, published by St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne Books, (2009) and Regnery Books (2019). He is also a member of Mystery Writers of America, the American Screenwriters Association and has attended numerous writing seminars including Harlan Coben’s and Lee Child’s Master Class Fiction Writing Courses on BBC MAESTRO. He holds a B.A. from the University of Alabama and J.D. from Samford University. Before law school, the author held a TOP SECRET security clearance and worked for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
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