I do like my books a bit bloody – but it doesn’t have to be a gore-fest to be a Bloody Good Read.  These are books that I have found to be strong in story, rich in characters, or simply a page-turner. I encourage you to check them out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

Find me on twitter @raevanswrites or leave a comment here to suggest a Bloody Good Read!

From the blood of the past, evil rises to seek undying vengeance…

Prairie Bend. Brilliant summers amid golden fields. Killing winters of razorlike cold. A peaceful, neighborly village, darkened by legends of death?

Who is Nathaniel?

For a hundred years, the people of Prairie Bend have whispered the name in wonder and fear. Some say he is simply a folk tale—a legend created to frighten children on cold winter nights. Some swear he is a terrifying spirit returned to avenge the past. And soon…very soon…some will come to believe that Nathaniel lives still—darkly, horrifyingly real.

Nathaniel.

For young Michael Hall, newly arrived in isolated Prairie Bend after having lost his father to a sudden tragic accident, Nathaniel is the voice that calls him across the prairie night…the voice that draws him into the shadowy depths of the old, crumbling barn where he has been forbidden to go…the voice—chanting, compelling—he will follow faithfully beyond the edge of terror…Nathaniel.

Paradise is just one step from Hell.

The chance to build a dream home on a private island in Italy’s most beautiful lake offers architect Tom Lupton the fresh start he’s been yearning for. But when he arrives with his family on Diavolino, he finds the terrified locals dead set against his arrival. The island, whose very existence has been shrouded in secrecy for half a millennium, has a dark history that no one cares to remember, and as their opposition to Tom grows, so grows a brooding evil that will lead them to the very doors of hell…

* * *

Murhkin Mocado, a twenty-nine year old, California native had it all … good job, good looks, and a solid handle on life. While leaving work one afternoon, a seemingly freak occurrence changes his life forever. His decision to take action, a stunning attempt to save lives, carries unexpected repercussions. By the time day turns to night, he is charged with murder, set up for a crime he didn’t commit.

Joelle Barstow, a star within the industrial espionage community for well over a decade, was hand-picked fresh out of college by a private intelligence agency. The confident agent is cast deep inside an operation involving big business and government. She finds her skills pushed to the limit while attempting to navigate this dangerous world of greed and power.

As their paths cross, Barstow attempts to warn Mocado of just how dangerous his plight really is. Mocado, manipulated by those who framed him, initiates a chain of events leading to one of the worst man-made, ecological disasters in history.

Will Barstow unearth truths required to bring those responsible to justice? Will Mocado escape their clutches? This mystery/thriller takes the reader on a rapid-fire adventure beginning in the United States, careening through the breathtaking splendor of Ireland, and culminating in Kenya, one of the most exotic countries within the boundary of Africa’s “Dark Continent.”

* * *

Can a hitman regain control of a situation after getting too close to a mark?

Eric Caldwell has been hired to assassinate scores of people over the years. Most, as of late, have been high profile targets requiring weeks of planning, and a perfect execution. So when Caldwell is asked by a science research corporation to take out one of it’s own low level employees for leaking information to the competition, he expects this to be one of his easiest marks in recent years. As Caldwell begins research on his target, he finds a disturbing trend with the man’s lifestyle that strikes a nerve with the assassin.

Caldwell breaks one of the golden rules for a hitman: Never get too close to a mark. The job would become anything but simple.  Loose Ends is a thriller/mystery novella that is nearly 17,000 words.

* * *

Seventeen-year-old Harmony Wolcott is slowly succumbing to the darkness that haunts her, hurts her, and pushes her past the limits of sanity. The ghost, known only as Tom, seems bent on her destruction and the one person that knows his secret, her paranoid schizophrenic mother, is too busy tending her own demons to notice Harmony’s distress.

Afraid to ask for help or admit the strange occurrences, Harmony gives herself over to self-destruction of every kind: drugs, promiscuity, and a co-dependent relationship with an older man who doesn’t have any idea what it is he’s saving her from, but tries anyway. Time is running out for Harmony and she either has to figure out who Tom is and what he wants or, if she can’t face her tragic past, join him in death.

* * *

At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real. Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It’s time for a little revenge. . . . It’s time the devil had his due. . .

* * *

When a wealthy Toronto business man is found tortured and murdered in a hotel room, his 22 year old stepdaughter, Fiona Dalton, must help police find the killer. Forced at the age of 16 into the adult entertainment industry by her own mother, Scarlet Rose; a washed-up alcoholic burlesque queen from the 1960s, Fiona navigates her way through the dark recesses of her family’s history, uncovering shocking secrets that threaten to destroy her. All the while her mother becomes fixated on the only thing that truly matters to her: getting her hands on her dead ex-husband’s money.

* * *

A power, kept secret for 2000 years. A brotherhood, broken by murder. A woman who stands to lose everything. When Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, the Apostles took stones from his tomb as a symbol of their brotherhood. At Pentecost, the fire of the Holy Spirit empowered the stones and the Apostles performed miracles in God’s name. Forged in the fire and blood of the Christian martyrs, the Pentecost stones were handed down through generations of Keepers who kept their power and locations secret. Until now. The Keepers are being murdered, the stones stolen by those who would use them for evil in a world transformed by religious fundamentalism. Oxford University psychologist Morgan Sierra is forced into the search when her sister and niece are held hostage. She is joined by Jake Timber from the mysterious ARKANE, a British government agency specializing in para- normal and religious experience. From ancient Christian sites in Spain, Italy and Israel to the far reaches of Iran and Tunisia, Morgan and Jake must track down the stones through the myths of the early church in a race against time before a new Pentecost is summoned, this time powered by the fire of evil.

* * *

Can a disgraced Special Forces soldier find redemption, and will redemption cost him more than just his own life?

North American Federation Navy Commander Evan Gabriel was dishonorably discharged after losing his covert team on a far off world called Eden. Now, he’s being offered an opportunity to command a new team, on a new world, with a new mission, but the true motives behind the mission are unclear.

A reluctant Gabriel and his team must travel hundreds of light years across the galaxy to an ice-bound planet, where a nameless, faceless cartel is producing a highly-addictive drug brutally extracted from the bodies of the native inhabitants. His former commanding officer, now the Director of Naval Intelligence for the NAF, is running the highly-secret operation, but has a hidden agenda Gabriel can only guess at.

Gabriel’s Redemption is a near-future military science fiction story of a personal journey seen from the perspective of a soldier who has lost everything; one who desperately needs to redeem himself not only in his government’s eyes, but also his own. Interstellar action and political intrigue mix with one-on-one battles on the surface of a frozen planet in this exciting tale of salvation. Approximately 65,000 words.

UPDATED: Second Round Qualifier in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest!

* * *

Oscar winner Meridan Marks has just learned how disapproving critics can be when she takes the leap from America’s most beloved actress to burgeoning director. When her first attempt to direct and lead fails miserably, Meridan concocts a duplicitous scheme to deflect a storm of bad press. Exploiting an ardent fan as a stalker, the story is “leaked,” and Meridan finds herself once again in the adoring and sympathetic arms of her fans and public instead of being harangued by critics. The press grabs hold of Meridan Marks’s “stalking” and projects a far more ominous picture of reality, setting in motion a maelstrom that transcends her intentions. When details of her peril reach the ears of Dallas food critic Lynden Hatcher, they hit home with powerful emotional force. Having outrun her past for more than a decade, Lynden is horrified to recognize the demons of her past threatening Meridan’s present. Her certainty of the danger in store for the actress leads Lynden to a moral precipice: In preserving herself, she could jeopardize another. In order to garner the strength and conviction it will take to offer her help, Lynden sifts through the annals of her past, when she managed to escape the machinations of the two nefarious men who have set Meridan Marks in their sights.