A dangerous cult leader, days away from execution, reveals he is the famous author behind a bestselling series. With his death, the final, unpublished manuscript-and the crucial evidence it contains-will never see the light of day.
In the tradition of Stephen King, this page-turning thriller from author J. H. Markert is packed with mindbending twists.
Days before his execution, notorious cult leader and mass murderer Sal Batise grants an unlikely interview to a young filmmaker, Sam Harper.
This interview could launch Sam's career. But his carefully planned questions-including the one about the recently kidnapped governor's wife-fall apart when Batise seizes control.
On live TV, Batise claims that he is Mallard Malone, the anonymous author of a blockbuster thriller series. Stay his execution, and he'll release the final unpublished manuscript that holds the key to finding his victims' bodies.
At the same time, a ransom note arrives with a single demand to save the governor's wife: Batise's execution must go on as planned.
As fiction and reality collide, Batise refuses to talk to anyone but Sam.
Sam teams up with Jennifer Daley, a childhood survivor of Batise's cult, to locate the missing manuscript and uncover the truth behind their own ties to Batise, as the clock ticks down to the execution-and the fate of the governor's wife. J. H. Markert is a producer, screenwriter, husband, and father of two from Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also a tennis pro for twenty-five years, before hanging up the rackets for good in 2020. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Louisville in 1997 and has been writing ever since.
