Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Alex organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.
Author Dianne Hartsock will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B&N Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Don’t forget to enter!
And you can click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Alex
by Dianne Hartsock
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Synopsis
Alex is twenty and confused. He always is. The world presses on him with its horrors and pain, with scintillating auras that bewilder his eyes and drive the migraines deeper. He hears the cries of the children, sees the brutal images of tortured victims. He feels out of control and his mind slips…
Severely abused as a child, he is left with horrible scars on his body and even worse scars within his mind. Even though it puts him in danger, he’s compelled to help those who call to him. He’s driven, motivated by his visions to rescue them and hopefully uncover the killer. When he can, he helps the police; yet some detectives suspect he’s involved. Often, Alex finds himself alone and afraid in a world he doesn’t always understand.
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Enjoy this exclusive peek inside:
“Alex!”
Mary’s usually kind face looked impatient, and he jerked to his feet. From her tone, she’d probably been calling him for some time. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Sarah hasn’t come in yet, and Becca and I have our hands full with another shipment. Will you read to the children today?” At the look of panic probably on his face, she smiled encouragingly. “Now, don’t be afraid,” she said as she took his arm, giving it a motherly pat. “It’s only three chapters of Lone Wolf. When you’re done, you can let them have cookies.”
She guided him to the room where every Saturday afternoon during summer the bookstore hosted a reading for kids who had nothing better to do. Before Alex could draw a breath, she pushed him onto a stool and pressed a book into his hands. He gaped as she abandoned him in front of an audience of expectant children. A dozen kids of various ages sat on a rug at his feet. He gave them a quick glance and then opened the book to the marked page.
The light radiating from the children hurt his eyes, and it took him a moment to focus on the print. The children stirred restlessly in the awkward silence until he cleared his throat. As he began to read, even Brian Edwards stopped hitting his neighbor to listen.
Alex’s voice grew low and intense as he immersed himself in the story. His tone became so expressive that the more sensitive children seemed able to see the action unfold behind their eyes, same as he could.
He reached the end of the second chapter safely and began to hope he might make it through the rest without mishap. He turned the page to continue, but then a shadow appeared on the paper. He rubbed his eyes, wanting it to be his imagination, but the shadow spread across the print. He struggled to ignore it for a few more sentences, but the growing darkness teased his eyes away from the page. He spotted the source instantly: a boy near the door whose black aura coiled tightly around his body.
The blackness seeped from the boy until it dimmed the brightness of the other children.
“Rabbit,” Alex whispered in horror, his eyes going wide. In his mind, he saw a rabbit tied to a board in a dark place, its paws bound with gray tape. A scalpel glittered in the boy’s trembling hand. With his gaze intent on the heaving chest of the helpless creature, the boy licked his lips in anticipation of doing something cruel.
Alex’s sharp whimper of distress broke the unnerving stillness in the room. He covered his face to wipe the disturbing image from his mind.
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About Author Dianne Hartsock:
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Dianne grew up in one of the older homes in the middle of Los Angeles, a place of hardwood floors and secret closets and back staircases. A house where ghosts lurk in the basement and the faces in the paintings watch you walk up the front stairs. Rooms where you keep the closet doors closed tight at night. It’s where her love of the mysterious and wonderful came from. Dianne is the author of m/m romance, paranormal/suspense, fantasy adventure, the occasional thriller, and anything else that comes to mind.
She now lives in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon with her incredibly patient husband, who puts up with the endless hours she spends hunched over the keyboard letting her characters play. Dianne says Oregon’s raindrops are the perfect setting in which to write. There’s something about being cooped up in the house with a fire crackling on the hearth and a cup of hot coffee in her hands, which kindles her imagination.
Currently, Dianne works as a floral designer in a locally-owned gift shop. Which is the perfect job for her. When not writing, she can express herself through the rich colors and textures of flowers and foliage.
Author Links: Blog / Facebook / Facebook Author Page / Goodreads / Instagram
Purchase Links: Amazon / JMS Books / B&N / KOBO / Smashwords
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