Dark and Twisted Reads

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Dark And Twisted Reads boxset.jpg

A new book compilation hit the streets today! DARK AND TWISTED READS is three novels in a single book, featuring ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS, by yours truly, A PERFECT EVIL by Alex Kava, and BONE COLD by Erica Spindler.

How. Cool. Is. That?

Alex and Erica and I are good friends, and we’ve done some work together (see SLICES OF NIGHT and STORM SEASON for our original short stories compilations). This time, MIRA is putting out the novels, together in a fabulous thematically-linked bundle. (There might be a few missing hands and fingers throughout the narratives… just sayin’.)

This is a perfect grouping of books. If you’ve read me, but not Erica or Alex, you’re in for a major treat. Why do I say this?

These two women, these amazing authors, influenced me so heavily when I was learning how to write thrillers. They are both heroes of mine—wonderful examples of women thriller authors who’ve never shied away from the darkness. They both tear back the veil on police and FBI investigations, unafraid, and unflinching, in their subject matter. They both taught me so much about storytelling, I will forever be in their debt.

That not so many years removed from when I was reading them to learn how it’s done, I get to call them my friends, and have a book out with them? That is both a joy and a privilege. 

Grab this one… it’s a bargain!

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J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Cover Reveal for TEAR ME APART

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Gather round, my friends. Here she is, the cover for my next thriller, TEAR ME APART! Isn’t she stunning?

Confession: This book is unlike any other I have ever written. It’s a very serious family drama, a dark suspense with a Girl, Interrupted vibe, albeit if the girls from the film were grown up. It's about a mother's love, and secrets, and darkness. The tagline, Everyone Has A Dark Side, could not be more perfect. I got chills when I saw it on the cover.

It wasn't an easy book to write, because what I drafted is nothing like what the book ended up being. I had to take chances, to tap into deeply personal issues, and I resisted. But in the end, I allowed it to happen, and I hope you love it.

Another quick bit of news – news I think you'll like – the pub date has moved up. The book is now being released August 28 – almost a month early. It's available for pre-order now, so you can reserve your copy today. (And often, the retailer will charge you the book’s lowest price during the pre-order period, which is awesome.) It’s also available for sharing with Goodreads friends and real-life friends.

Here’s some more about the book…

The follow-up to her critically acclaimed Lie to Me, J.T. Ellison’s TEAR ME APART is the powerful story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter even as their carefully constructed world unravels around them.

One moment will change their lives forever…

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.

Who knows the answers?

The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart…and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.

With vivid movement through time, TEAR ME APART examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within.
 

Love it? Then here's some links. Order away...

Barnes & Noble
   Indiebound  
Books-A-Million
Indigo 
 Amazon   

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J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

DEAD ENDS now available in audiobook! And "Catwood" is available in ebook!

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Super fun and exciting release news today — DEAD ENDS is available in audiobook from all your favorite audio retailers! And, my story from the collection, CATWOOD, is also available in digital form. 

I’m so proud of this collection — the stories are wonderful, and to have them read aloud makes them nothing short of remarkable. Our narrator, Courtney Parker, has brought the stories and characters alive. There is something so unique about hearing your own words read to you. I know you’ll love listening to this awesome collection.

And here’s a little origin info about my story, CATWOOD.

People ask me all the time where I get my ideas. Well, CATWOOD is a totally meta story for me. 

 
the dock that inspired Catwood
 

A couple of years ago, I went on a writers retreat in the north Georgia mountains with a group of friends. The cabin was perfectly situated on a small pond, with a dock. The moment we arrived, we arrayed ourselves on that silent dock, stretching from the long car ride, then basking in the sun, staring idly at the water, chatting about our upcoming work. A story came to me right then, and I threw the bones of it together the moment I touched my laptop. The story was, of course, about a group of writers who go to a cabin in the woods with a pond and a dock, and, while there, find a body floating in the water.

I know, I know. It’s terrible of me to be thinking about dead bodies floating in ponds whilst sitting enjoying one, but that’s how my brain cooks. 

I tucked the idea away for a rainy day. And then DEAD ENDS happened, and I enjoyed the process of seeing my friends stories come to life so much that I wanted to join in. I decided to write the story about the body in the pond.

While I was thinking about it, I had this incredibly bizarro dream. I was standing in a cave with Margaret Atwood and she was screaming at the wind. Her screams were the only thing keeping us alive. And then a huge flock off birds dropped dead at her feet, and the wind ceased to blow.

Yeah. All the symbolism of that dream aside… I knew I had my tale. I stitched the dream and the pond imagery together with the photo of the house I’d given my authors, and CATWOOD was born. 

I hope you enjoy them both!

Look at this picture. Tell me what you see…

From childish demons to a mad novelist, from the Mississippi delta to the Appalachians, this collection from emerging voices and New York Times bestselling authors explores what happens when secrets that lie beneath the dust are disturbed—and our worst nightmares begin.

Amazon Audible iTunes
 

Five friends head on a weekend mountain getaway. Only four will return.

A group of writers from Nashville piles into a car and heads to the mountains of north Georgia for a work retreat—and a bit of drinking and gossip. They’ve booked a cabin in the woods with no internet and no cell service, and hopefully, no interruptions.

Near the cabin the friends discover the beautiful but decrepit Catwood manor, abandoned decades earlier. Detritus from its final lavish dinner party remains on the tables. Writer brains spin with a thousand questions, but two stand out: Why did the Catwood family abandon their mansion during a posh affair? And why did they never return?

A dark cave near the house may hold the answer. But learning the secret to the family’s disappearance will be deadly.

Kindle Kobo Google Play iBooks Nook

 

 

 

 

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J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Could You Catch a Killer?

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Who doesn't want to be as suave as Nicholas? As badass as Mike?

I know I do.

That's the magic of these stories, isn't it? The idea that maybe you could slip on the skin of an an FBI agent and catch the people harming innocents around the world—or even someone you love.

But do you have what it takes? Could you catch a killer? 

Then tell me how you did!
 

P.S. You only have to leave your name to comment! The adding your email address and URL is optional.

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,

J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

THE SIXTH DAY - Available Today!

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It’s here! THE SIXTH DAY is on sale today at all retailers in all formats!

I’ll be the first to admit, naming the 5th book in the Brit in the FBI series THE SIXTH DAY shows a small lack of foresight on our part, as now that the 6th book is underway, I keep finding myself saving files to the Sixth Day folder. A small price to pay, though, for what I think is the most intricate, intense ride of the series thus far.

Set in London, Nicholas and Mike are up against a villain who thinks he’s a descendent of Vlad the Impaler, and believes the lost pages of the Voynich Manuscript hold the answers to save his twin brother from the grips of severe hemophilia. (Get it - vampires, hemophilia…) Plus, there is some high-tech madness, and a drone army, and falcons named after the original Cabal. Trust me when I say Nicholas and Mike have their hands full. 

You might wonder how Catherine and I cook up these crazy plots. Normally, we meet at her place in California, but for this book, we set up shop in a lovely hotel in Manhattan, with oodles of tea and bacon (the staples of life) being brought by room service, and started throwing ideas against the wall.  We had two basic concepts to start with — the Voynich Manuscript and Vlad Dracul —  and we tossed out plot twists until they began to gel into a plausible story. 

We had so many cool ideas for THE SIXTH DAY I often wondered how we would manage to fit them all in. But we did, and the result is a mind-bending thriller that will leave you breathless. 

A part of this book’s inspiration was a family affair. I have to give props to my dad and my brothers for inspiring the falcons in the book. We were walking on the beach last year and my eldest brother mentioned a documentary he’d seen about a falcon hospital in Saudi Arabia. My dad had forwarded me a story about the French using eagles and falcons to take down drones just days before … and my middle brother mentioned he’d recently seen a story about a Saudi Prince booking seats for 80 of his falcons on board a plane. I was hooked on these ideas and ran to Catherine and said — Roman has to be a falconer. She bought in immediately, for which I will be forever grateful.

In that vein, I also have to give props to Helen Macdonald for her incredible book H IS FOR HAWK (recommended to me years ago by my very first editor, so how’s that for full circle), and Deborah Harkness for introducing me to the Voynich in her incredible DISCOVERY OF WITCHES series. These inspirations truly helped bring this book to life.

Thanks to all!

I hope you enjoy THE SIXTH DAY – let me know what you think!

Get Yours Now!
 

Download the eBook

KINDLE 
NOOK 
iBOOKS 
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J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.