Thicker Than Blood - The Complete Andrew Z. Thomas Trilogy

Koontz will find themselves in familiar territory. Crouch's stalwart hero Andrew Z. Thomas (Desert Places, Locked Doors) thinks he's finally left the tragedy and horror of his past behind him. But the past has a way of catching up, and Andrew is pushed to the limits of human endurance to see if he does indeed break.

The ending is a jaw-dropper. You'll never see it coming.

J.A. Konrath, author of the Det. Jack Daniels' Series and Flee

BREAK YOU

* * *

Following the events of DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS, Andy Thomas and Violet King are hiding out in the wilds of northern Canada, where Violet has a four-month-old son and a burgeoning romance with Andy. On a cold, rainy night at their cabin in the woods, the promise of an idyllic life that seems just around the corner is shattered when a man from their past, a monster of pure malevolence, returns. What he has in store for them will challenge their understanding of evil and stretch the fibers of their love to the breaking point.

They say that what you mock

Will surely overtake you

And you become a monster

So the monster will not break you

— U2, 'Peace on Earth'

Yukon, Canada

Autumn 2004

Andy

EARLY October.

A cold, midnight rain pattering against the tin roof.

'We should be drinking whiskey,' Violet said. 'Something to warm our bones.'

I set another birch log on the fire and crawled back onto the bearskin rug where Vi had sprawled with her wineglass.

'You’re already cold?' I asked.

'I’m a southern girl. I’m always freezing.'

'Hate to say it, but that doesn’t bode well for you this winter.'

'How cold does it get here? Worst case scenario.'

'Fifty below. Sixty on a bad day.'

'I won’t even get out of bed.'

I sipped my wine, glanced at the fireshadows flickering in the rafters over the loft—what had once been my office now converted into Violet’s bedroom and her four-month-old Max’s nursery. He slept up there in bliss, the warmest spot in the cabin, where the heat of the fire gathered.

I studied the firelight flush across Violet’s face.

I’d shunned it, fought it, tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t deny what I felt in the pit of my stomach. I was falling...hard...for this woman.

'What is it?' Vi said.

'Nothing.'

'No...you have this look.'

'I don’t know what you’re talking about.'

She smirked. 'Are you crushing on me, Andy?'

I blushed through to the tips of my ears, wondering if she could see the color in the lowlight.

'Little bit, I’m sorry.'