"A Monster Of All Time" by J. T. Hunter

GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY

A Monster Of All Time:
The True Story of Danny Rolling, The Gainesville Ripper

by J. T. Hunter

A Monster Of All Time by J. T. Hunter is currently on tour with Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for a guest post by the author, an excerpt, and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Ambitious, attractive, and full of potential, five young college students prepared for the new semester. They dreamed of beginning careers and starting families. They had a lifetime of experiences in front of them. But death came without warning in the dark of the night.

Brutally ending five promising lives, leaving behind three gruesome crime scenes, the Gainesville Ripper terrorized the University of Florida, casting an ominous shadow across a frightened college town.

What evil lurked inside him? What demons drove him to kill? What made him “A Monster of All Time”?

Excerpt

Prologue

January 1987
Parchman, Mississippi

The prisoner raged in his lonely cell.

“When they let me out of here,” the prisoner swore to himself, “I’ll make them all pay.”

Years of condemnation and contempt had taken its toll, breaking him down, eroding his spirit, destroying all sense of hope. Now only the anger remained.

***

Cast into the bowels of Parchman Prison, the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary, the prisoner had suffered daily torments during his confinement, each day falling deeper and deeper into despair. Raw sewage regularly seeped into his cell through the floor and flowed from a broken drain down the hall, flooding the cramped 8 x 10 feet concrete space with a revolting grey-brown liquid and an unrelenting stench.

Kept in this torturous isolation, his besieged brain had betrayed him, replaying the grievous moments of his life, all of the humiliations and feelings of helplessness, every piercing word, and every raw, painful memory. It was a constant reminder that the world had always been a hurtful place of violence, animosity, and aversion, never one of empathy or understanding.

Desperate to escape the unrelenting torment, he retreated ever deeper into the labyrinth of his own mind, creeping ever closer to madness. It was in that maze of insanity that he found himself. Or rather, something found him.

In the bleak, all-encompassing darkness, something whispered his name.

Faceless and formless, the voice seemed to emanate both from the impenetrable blackness surrounding him and from the shadowy depths of his own consciousness. The voice soothed and seduced him, its language both alien and familiar. It promised the strength to survive whatever nightmares awaited the remainder of his confinement. It offered the tools of revenge for his present condition, for all of the wrongs committed against him in the past, and for the scorn and mistreatment yet to come. Most of all, it promised the power to make others feel the suffering he had so long endured.

Then a name imprinted itself into his brain, uttered from an unseen shape in the darkness, or muttered from the murky depths of memory.

“Gemini,” an eerie voice proclaimed. “I am Gemini.”

At that moment, an infernal compact was crafted, a devil’s contract offering redemption for the damned, a demonic covenant accepted regardless of the terms. Caring nothing for the consequences, the prisoner embraced the assurance of vengeance, pledging revenge for the countless injuries inflicted upon him. Just as a cold, uncaring world had robbed him of his humanity and stolen years of his life, he would take the lives of others in an equal and equitable proportion. A new sense of purpose washed over him, bringing with it a rebirth, a recognition of what he needed to do.

And now he waited, marking the days with hidden malice, the bitter darkness of his cell matched only by the malevolence of his twisted, tainted soul.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

“A vivid and compelling account of the Gainesville Ripper, who terrorized Florida over four days in August 1990, and what happened after his arrest. JT Hunter brings his lawerly eye to a bizarre case that has largely been forgotten, following investigators as they chase the state's biggest monster since Ted Bundy.” ~ Maureen Callahan, writer at New York Post

“Well-researched and deftly told with chilling detail. Should be on every true crime fan bookshelf.” ~ Steve Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Monster and Bogeyman

“An impressive and riveting account of one of the most prolific serial killers.” ~ The Boston Globe

“Compelling and well-written.” ~ True Crime Book Reviews

“With A Monster of All Time, JT Hunter has crafted a deep and sobering analysis of the heinous crimes carried out by the Gainesville Ripper. Citing firsthand sources, Hunter examines each crime scene in chilling detail, the sharp investigators who cracked the case, and the gripping courtroom drama that brought justice to the victims of one of America's most notorious serial killers.” ~ Gary McAvoy, author of And Every Word Is True: What the Nye Files and Hickock Letters reveal about Kansas, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and the Clutter family murders

Guest Post by the Author

The Strangest Cases

Truth really can be stranger than fiction, especially in the realm of true crime. Most everyone knows about the shocking cases of Dahmer, Bundy, Gacy, and the BTK Killer. But there’s no shortage of lesser-known cases that are equally bizarre. During my time as a true crime writer, I’ve come across a lot of strange cases. Here are just a few.

The Vampire Next Door

My first true crime book, The Vampire Next Door: The True Story of the Vampire Rapist, chronicles the story of John Crutchley, dubbed the “Vampire Rapist” by the media due to his propensity for drinking the blood of his victims. He would abduct women and keep them tied up in his house where, over the course of a few days, he repeatedly raped them and drained their blood through surgical tubes. When he had his fill, he killed them by strangulation. Yet, in public he wore the mask of a hard-working family man with a wife and young son. Stranger still, he had a white-collar job with top secret security clearance at the Pentagon while working as a computer programmer on weapons communications systems for the U.S. Navy! 

A New Breed of Serial Killer

Israel Keyes, the new breed of serial killer whose story is detailed in my book, Devil in the Darkness, similarly hid his dark side behind the mask of a doting father and hard-working business owner. Indeed, after he was finally caught, Keyes gloated to investigators about how he had been able to fool everyone he knew for over a decade. Keyes used the entire country as his hunting grounds, burying “kill-kits” containing the tools to commit his crimes in multiple states, often years before returning to dig them up and use them. Investigators caught up to him only by a strange twist of fate: when he went to the car rental company to exchange the car he had been using, the only cars available were the same make, model, AND color as the one he had. A Texas Highway Patrolman spotted the car shortly thereafter and arrested Keyes. The identical car that Keyes was driving before had been recorded by a security camera and the FBI, Texas Rangers, and Texas Highway Patrol were all looking for it. But for the fortuitous lack of inventory at the rental car facility, Keyes might very well still be out there killing today!

Finding Love on Death Row

The love story explored in Death Row Romeo is another strange case. While on death row for the murders of several women, serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin met Rosalie Martinez, the wife of a prominent Tampa lawyer. Rosalie had four daughters at the time. She enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, living in an upscale suburb, driving an expensive car, and hosting parties at her home for the political elite, including the Governor of Florida. She wore designer clothes and expensive jewelry and her daughters all attended an exclusive, private school. But she gave all of that up after she met Bolin while working as a sentencing specialist on his case. She subsequently married “Bolin the Butcher” in her apartment as a camera crew from the news show 20/20 recorded the event. Bolin attended the ceremony by telephone from his death row cell. She became a widow in 2016 after the State of Florida executed Bolin by lethal injection.

Connecting a Very Cold Case to a Famous True Crime Case

As the back jacket of my book, In Colder Blood (FREE), begins: “Two families, mysteriously murdered under similar circumstances, just a month apart. One was memorialized in Truman Capote’s classic novel, In Cold Blood. The other was all but forgotten.”

The first crime is the well-known quadruple murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, on November 15, 1959. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith confessed to those murders after a jail-house informant linked them to the crime.

The second crime is also a quadruple murder, but one that few know about. On December 19, 1959, the Walker family - a father, mother, son, and daughter - were killed in their own home in Osprey, Florida. The method of killing and the isolated location of the home was remarkably similar to that of the Clutter family murder.

The Walker family murder remained unsolved for over half a century, passing from detective to detective over the decades. In 2007, a new detective took over the long-cold case. Armed with a fresh perspective, Detective Kimberly McGath pored over the case files until she became convinced that Hickock and Smith murdered the Walker family in similar fashion as they killed the Clutters. Multiple witnesses saw two men matching Hickock and Smith’s descriptions in the area at various times prior to and after the Walkers were killed, and Detective McGath developed a plausible theory as to how the Walkers could have encountered the two fugitives. Based on McGath’s detective work, Hickock and Smith’s bodies were exhumed in December 2012 to extract DNA samples to test against DNA recovered at the Walker crime scene. Due to the age and condition of the exhumed bodies, the test results were inconclusive.

---

Every true crime case is strange in its own way. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, I come across a new case and discover that I haven’t. That’s what keeps all of us true crime aficionados coming back for more.

About the Author

J. T. Hunter is an attorney with over fourteen years of experience practicing law, including criminal law and appeals, and he has significant training in criminal investigation techniques. He is also a college professor whose teaching interests focus on the intersection of criminal psychology, law, and literature.

Giveaway

Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win one of two $20 Amazon gift cards.

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"Child's Play" by Merry Jones

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY

Child's Play
(Elle Harrison Thriller Book 3)

by Merry Jones

Child's Play is the third book in the Elle Harrison Thriller series by Merry Jones. Also available: The Trouble With Charlie and Elective Procedures.

Child's Play is currently on tour with Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for my review, an excerpt, and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Since her husband’s murder two years earlier, life hasn’t been easy for Elle Harrison. Now, at the start of a new school year, the second grade teacher is determined to move on. She’s selling her house and delving into new experiences - like learning trapeze.

Just before the first day of school, Elle learns that a former student, Ty Evans, has been released from juvenile detention where he served time for killing his abusive father. Within days of his release, Elle’s school principal, who’d tormented Ty as a child, is brutally murdered. So is a teacher at the school. And Ty’s former girlfriend. All the victims have links to Ty.

Ty’s younger brother, Seth, is in Elle’s class. When Seth shows up at school beaten and bruised, Elle reports the abuse, and authorities remove Seth and his older sister, Katie, from their home. Is Ty the abuser?

Ty seeks Elle out, confiding that she’s the only adult he’s ever trusted. She tries to be open-minded, even wonders if he’s been wrongly condemned. But when she’s assaulted in the night, she suspects that Ty is her attacker. Is he a serial killer? Is she his next intended victim?

Before Elle discovers the truth, she’s caught in a deadly trap that challenges her deepest convictions about guilt and innocence, childhood and family. Pushed to her limits, she’s forced to face her fears and apply new skills in a deadly fight to survive.

Excerpt

I was the first one there.

The parking lot was empty, except for Stan’s pickup truck. Stan was the custodian, tall, hair thinning, face pock-marked from long ago acne. He moved silently, popped out of closets and appeared in corners, prowled the halls armed with a mop or a broom. In fourteen years, I couldn’t remember a single time when he’d looked me in the eye.

Wait—fourteen years? I’d been there that long? Faces of kids I’d taught swirled through my head. The oldest of them would now be, what? Twenty-one? Oh man. Soon I’d be one of those old school marms teaching the kids of my former students, a permanent fixture of the school like the faded picture of George Washington mounted outside the principal’s office. Hell, in a few months, I’d be forty. A middle-aged childless widow who taught second grade over and over again, year after year, repeating the cycle like a hamster on its wheel. Which reminded me: I had to pick up new hamsters. Tragically, last year’s hadn’t made it through the summer.

I told myself to stop dawdling. I had a classroom to organize, cubbies to decorate. On Monday, just three days from now, twenty-three glowing faces would show up for the first day of school, and I had to be ready. I climbed out of the car, pulled a box of supplies from the trunk, started for the building. And stopped.

My heart did triple time, as if responding to danger. But there was no danger. What alarmed me, what sent my heart racing was the school itself. But why? Did it look different? Had the windows been replaced, or the doors? Nothing looked new, but something seemed altered. Off balance. The place didn’t look like an elementary school. It looked like a giant factory. A prison.

God, no. It didn’t look like any of those things. The school was the same as it had always been, just a big brick building. It seemed cold and stark simply because it was unadorned by throngs of children. Except for wifi, Logan Elementary hadn’t changed in fifty years, unless you counted several new layers of soot on the bricks.

I stood in the parking lot, observing the school, seeing it fresh. I’d never paid much attention to it before. When it was filled with students, the building itself became all but invisible, just a structure, a backdrop. But now, empty, it was unable to hide behind the children, the smells of sunshine and peanut butter sandwiches, the sounds of chatter and small shoes pounding Stanley’s waxed tiles. The building stood exposed. I watched it, felt it watching me back. Threatening.

Seriously, what was wrong with me? The school was neither watching nor threatening me. It was a benign pile of bricks and steel. I was wasting time, needed to go in and get to work. But I didn’t take a single step. Go on, I told myself. What was I afraid of? Empty halls, vacant rooms? Blank walls? For a long moment, I stood motionless, eyes fixed on the façade. The carved letters: Logan School. The heavy double doors. The dark windows. Maybe I’d wait a while before going inside. Becky would arrive soon, after she picked up her classroom aquarium.

Other teachers would show up, too. I could go in with them, blend safely into their commotion. I hefted the box, turned back to the car. But no, what was I doing? I didn’t want to wait. I’d come early so I could get work done without interruption or distraction before the others arrived. The school wasn’t daring me, nor was I sensing some impending tragedy. I was just jittery about starting a new year.

I turned around again, faced its faded brown bricks. I steeled my shoulders, took a breath and started across the parking lot. With a reverberating metallic clank, the main doors flew open. Reflexively, I stepped back, half expecting a burst of flames or gunfire. Instead, Stan emerged. For the first time in fourteen years, I was glad to see him. Stan surveyed the parking lot, hitched up his pants. Looked in my direction. He didn’t wave or nod a greeting, didn’t follow social conventions. Even so, his presence grounded me, felt familiar.

I took a breath, reminded myself that the school was just a school. That I was prone to mental wandering and embellishing. And that children would stream into my classroom in just three days, whether I was ready or not.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

"A nurturing and protective elementary school teacher is thrust into a web of unspeakable evil. Riveting, suspenseful and diabolical, Child's Play keeps the reader anxiously and eagerly turning the pages." ~ Mary Jane Clark, New York Times Bestselling Author

"What a wild ride! Merry Jones' Child's Play starts on the first day of school and gets ever more terrifying from there. The novel is a terrific mystery, with the sins of the past rising to swallow an entire town, but it triumphs as an examination of female friendship, how it nurtures and how it destroys. Not to be missed." ~ William Lashner, New York Times Bestselling Author

"Surprising, dark, and even disturbing. A fragile and vulnerable young teacher faces a terrifying first day of school - and that is just the riveting beginning. Timely, provocative and sinister, this twisty story of family and friendship is not for the faint of heart." ~ Hank Phillippi Ryan - Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark award winning author

"What’s behind these horrors culminates in helter-skelter chaos. Elle’s home becomes the center of a tragic universe, since she 'attracted tragedy and death.' That combination is magnified many fold as bodies pile up. And readers are left enchanted by another 'Elle-oquent' thriller." ~ BookReporter

"The murder of the principal and a teacher on opening day at an elementary school a terrifying scenario. In Child's Play Merry Jones showcases her unique skill in delivering this dark, very dark, thriller with a modicum of humor. The end, well, you won't see it coming amid the tortuous twists and turns. Merry Jones at her best!" ~ Patricia Gussin, New York Times Best-selling Author of After the Fall

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

Just before the start of the school year, second grade teacher Elle Harrison discovers the body of the school principal stabbed to death in her office. Detective Stiles, who interviewed Elle two years earlier following the murder of her husband, heads up the investigation. With the help of her friends Becky (a fellow school teacher), Susan (also her lawyer), and Jen, Elle navigates her way through a series of murders, a persistent real estate agent who seems to be a bit too interested in her, an obsessed former student, and even circus school. Who'll be left standing?

Sorry to say this, but Elle is one of the most annoying characters I've ever come across. She second guesses all of her decisions and runs an incessant internal monologue - and this in sentence fragments, not even full sentences. As she herself states, "I was prone to mental wandering and embellishing." So much so, that her friends call it "pulling an Elle". Things are so dramatic and over-the-top in her mind but, when something happens in real life, it's described so matter-of-factly that you need to re-read that section to find out what exactly happened or if, in fact, it did actually happen and wasn't just a figment of her imagination. While the reason for her "dissociative disorder" becomes apparent toward the end of the book, it still feels like an unnecessary gimmick.

Throughout the book, asterisked section dividers (***) are over-used and excessively disruptive. It's almost as if the author has invented a new form of punctuation - a kind of exclamation mark for an entire scene, like "ooh, insert jaw-drop here ..." after something shocking (in her eyes) happens, even though the next sentence follows on directly.

Unfortunately, I also found the plot predictable and saw the ending coming a mile away. The only reason I kept reading was to see how long it would take for the penny to drop. It never does. The only redeeming feature is that you don't need to have read the previous books, as the narrative seamlessly incorporates any background information you need to know.

One for the die-hard fans only.

About the Author

Merry Jones is the author of some twenty critically acclaimed books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her work has been translated into seven languages. Her previous Elle Harrison novels have been The Trouble With Charlie and Elective Procedures. Jones lives with her husband in Philadelphia.

Giveaway

Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $15 Amazon gift card or one of three ebook copies of Child's Play by Merry Jones.

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"Scar Tissue" by M. C. Domovitch

EXCERPT

Scar Tissue

by M. C. Domovitch

Scar Tissue by M. C. Domovitch is currently on tour with Worldwind Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

When successful model Ciara Kelly wakes up in hospital, remembering nothing of the weeks she has been missing, her only clues are the ugly words carved into her skin. According to the police she was a victim of the Cutter, a serial killer who has already murdered three women.

For her protection the police and her doctors give a press conference, announcing that because her amnesia is organically caused, her memory loss is permanent. But, whether her memory returns or not is anybody’s guess.

Overnight, Ciara’s glamorous life is gone. Her scars have killed both her modelling career and her relationship with her rich boyfriend. With nothing to keep her in New York, she returns to her home town of Seattle, moves in with her sister and goes about building a new life.

But when her sister lets it slip that Ciara’s memory is returning, the killer comes after her again. If Ciara is to stay alive, she must keep one step ahead of the Cutter.

Excerpt

I don’t want to die.

That single thought pounded through her mind as she hurtled through the woods. The blackness had dropped all at once, and now the trees were merely darker shadows against a dark night. The rain came down hard. Lightning cracked, sounding so much like a gunshot that she muffled a scream. But she had not been hit. She was still alive. She ran on.

Branches and bushes whipped at her, scratching her arms and legs. She tripped over an exposed root and crashed to the ground, but was back on her feet in an instant.

A brilliant flash of lightening was followed by thunder. Ka-boom. Everything that had been black a moment ago became white. Had she been spotted? No, surely not.

A crunching sound came from her right. She whipped her head toward it and picked up her pace. Her breathing was ragged, short puffs of steam in the frigid April air. It couldn’t have been more than fifty degrees. Sweat and rain mixed with the dirt and blood from her countless wounds and ran down her face and neck in rivulets. Thanks to the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she was numb to the cold and the pain, but she would feel it later—if she got out of here alive.

Please God, let me live.

But she’d had no real food for days, no water except the occasional sip. Her body couldn’t keep going much longer. She was close to collapsing.

Must. Keep. Going.

If she wanted to stay alive, she needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and her captor. She had no idea how long she’d been running or in which direction she was going. Had her kidnapper even noticed she’d escaped? Was that monster already on her trail, getting closer with every passing second? A horrendous thought came to her. She could be running in a circle, her every step bringing her closer to her jailer. A sob escaped her throat.

Dear God. Please. Please.

She squinted, trying to see through the inky night. There had to be a road, a house, something, and then she saw them. Some distance away there were lights, and her last vestiges of hope crashed.

Flashlights.

Had a posse been formed? Were they closing in on her? In her panic, she tripped and came down hard, again. This time she thought she might have broken an arm. She was crying now. She’d come so close. But she would be caught. And she would die.

She looked up at the lights moving through the trees, and blinked. Could her imagination be playing tricks on her? She stared, and in moment of clarity she understood. Those weren’t flashlights. They were headlights. Headlights meant cars, and cars meant a road. Just ahead, maybe a few hundred yards farther, lay safety.

She had to keep going. She struggled to her feet, cradling her sore arm. She made her way, pushing through brambles and bushes until she came to a steep embankment. She crawled up and then over the guardrail. A car whizzed by, blaring its horn.

“Wait. Stop!” she yelled at the next one when it was still a distance away, but it drove by too. “Help me!” she shouted after it. She limped into the road, determined to make the next one stop. Tires screeched. There was a thud. And then she went flying through the air, coming to a bone-crushing thump on the hard pavement.

Through the mist in her mind she heard the sound of running footsteps, then a woman’s voice. “Oh, my God. Is she dead?”

A man’s voice, pleading. “I swear. It wasn’t my fault. She ran right in front of me.”

The woman again. “I think she’s still breathing. Call an ambulance. Now!” She leaned into her. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

The words came to her from a great distance, growing further and further away, until they were only a faint echo. She drifted into nothingness.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

"Absolutely thrilling! I was riveted to the pages from the moment I began until the very end as I hoped for more! This book reminded you of Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game. Highly recommended!" ~ StrapsCo

"Twists and turns everywhere, and the bad guy ... you might finally guess before the reveal, but it won't be until the end! How much can one person endure? Ciara has to put that to the test, and living it makes for a fascinating story. She ends up with an interesting ability, one I fervently hope will be explored in future Ciara Kelly stories!" ~ John F. Wheeles

"This was a book I couldn't put down (until my wife yelled at me to turn off the light and go to bed!). It grabs your attention immediately and holds it throughout the story." ~ Peter Maingot

"A great read, captured me and put me in the characters minds. Surprise, suspense, and entertainment. Very fast moving. I highly recommend Scar Tissue." ~ Mary Zwim

"I am exhausted as I couldn't put the book down. It was so suspenseful and the character development was superb. Can't way to read Scorpio's Kiss." ~ Ddshuble

About the Author

Monique was born in the small town of Hearst Ontario, the oldest of ten children. "You can’t imagine the pressure," she says, laughing. "Anything I did wrong - and I did plenty - was sure to lead my siblings into a life of sin. I therefore accept the blame for any wrongdoings by all member of my family."

When she was twenty years old she moved to Montreal, where she became a successful model, winning the prestigious Modeling Association of American Contest and continuing on to an international career. During this time, she worked with many top photographers and graced many designer runways. "Modeling was a wonderful career," she says. "I met so many interesting and talented people. I travelled all over the world. After ten years of facing cameras and audiences, I became very comfortable with the public. I had no idea at the time, just how much this ability would serve me later in life."

When Monique retired from modeling, she founded Beauties Modeling Agency in Montreal. Through her tutelage, many Canadian models gained international renown. "I wanted to accept my age rather than try desperately to look young for an unforgiving camera. That was the main reason I retired from modeling when I was still young."

Later, she became a financial adviser and planner, and soon found herself hosting her own national television show about personal finance. After four years on the air, the series ended and Monique soon retired from her financial career, remarried and embarked on her new career in writing. She is the author of nine books. She writes cozy mystery under the names Carol Ann Martin, humorous mysteries as Monique Domovitch and edge-of-your-seat suspense as M. C. Domovitch. She lives with her physician husband and their dogs.

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