The Grove

A gripping and compulsive thriller from the author of The Couple in Room 13

Dexter McCray is a farmer with a dark past that continues to haunt him. As a man struggling with alcoholism, hes used to being looked at with pity and suspicion in his community. So, after waking from a blackout to discover the body of a teenage girl in the nearby cottonwood grove, he cant be entirely sure hes innocent.

With no memory of the previous night, he sees no choice but to investigate the crime himself. Fortunately hes not alone. He has some help…in the shape of the dead girl herself.

In The Grove, readers are treated to more than a warped and imaginative mystery. With plot twists on every page, Rector breathes life into a story that pits reality against hallucination, truth against improbability. Is Dexter motivated by guilt or insanity, reason or folly? And how will the young victim provide the help he desperately needs? This is a novel about one man haunted by the reality of his failed life.

Praise for John Rector:

A well-crafted, tightly plotted thriller which steadily cranks up the sense of menace page by page. You know something bads going to happen and just have to keep reading… Simon Kernick, Sunday Times bestselling author of Die Alone

Clean, lean writing. Pure story with no padding. The pace was cracking and the tension cranked up with each chapter. I inhaled it! Allie Reynolds, author of Shiver

Portents of disaster accumulate like wind-driven snow... A sly and very accomplished first novel Booklist

Highly rewarding... I just couldnt stop reading... Theres no better place to spend a few imaginative hours these days than Rectors snowbound motel National Review

Highly suspenseful, highly provocative... has elements of the teen horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer and the classic, groundbreaking Psycho... highly recommended Gumshoe Review

One of the most violent, frightening and gripping books I have ever read. The phrase "I could not put it down" fits here -- and the ending stopped me COLD. An outstanding read -- dont miss this one! Beyond her Book, Publishers Weekly

A novel that compels you to read on - even though there are times you are too scared to. Brilliant Sun

Rector is the best find Ive made all year Tony Black

Wonderfully compelling. Could almost see the film racing across my eyes Maxim Jakubowski

Tense, taut, throat-grabbing. John Rector is far more accomplished than his years. Reads like a cross between No Country for Old Men and Deliverance. Terrific Eric Van Lustbader

One of the best debuts Ive read in a very long time Scott Phillips