Fiction Thriller
Date Published: 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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