Today I’m delighted to be joining the blog tour for The Crazy Season. I’m sharing an extract with thanks to Zoe at Question Mark Press for inviting me on the tour and to Jim Ody for providing the extract.

Blurb:

Joel Baxter is infamous for solving weird and bizarre cases that others avoid. So, when he receives an email from a teenage boy Tim saying his town is cursed, he cannot turn it down.

“…I will more than likely be dead when you read this. There is nothing I can do about it. It’s the curse, and we’ve hit The Crazy Season.” Every 20 years, there are a handful of unexplained teenage deaths and it’s started again.

With the help of his straight-talking friend Melody, they set out to get to the bottom of the alleged curse. Everybody in Black Rock has secrets and nobody wants to speak.

The closer they get to truth the more Joel and Melody realise that their involvement is far from coincidental.

Extract:

He was fifteen. He hated that age. The world had suddenly become a dark place. A number of responsibilities had appeared all around him, and he was forced down the route of adulthood whether he wanted to go or not.

When you’re a kid the world is a magical place. You can daydream of worlds created and shaped in your own mind. You feel in charge, even though you’re under constant adult supervision. You play with toys and everyone is asking you what you want to be when you grow up? It’s as if you really can be anything. But you were a caveat. Being a child was an excuse to do whatever you wanted and often with little or no consequence.

Timothy hated the hypocrisy of it all. The lies and bullshit. At fifteen you learn these things. Probably earlier, but when you’re younger you’re more dismissive. It’s like Christmas; you’ve known for many years that the jolly fat guy does not visit everyone in the world. You know he’s just this made-up character and ultimately a symbol of greed, however you still buy into the spirit of Christmas. A recognised hysteria on a grand scale, and the world pretends it’s not just a normal day and should be treated differently.

Thunderclouds move above him. The breeze trying to clear them away. The sea is rough, dark and unwelcoming. He sits out high on the cliff. The wind blows his hair out of place but he no longer cares. The heavy burden of life is all around him. The invisible power it has over him is overwhelming. The net closing in until he has no choice. He honestly believes he has no place else to go.

He pulls out his phone. He glances one last time at his social media account of choice. The goodbye post sits there unanswered by all the so-called ‘friends’ he has. Only one person seemed bothered.

Sally.

She’d added the Sad emoji. The bright yellow face has a downturned mouth and a single tear on the cheek.

***

The Crazy Season is available from Amazon.

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