Damnation Books, LLC has released the paperback and digital editions of Grim by Joseph Spencer.
Description: When bodies begin showing up at an abandoned mental hospital with a notorious past, Detective Adam White fears Prairieville’s most prolific slasher, The Reaper, has returned.
Dubbed the White Knight for his one-man crusade against corruption and crime, White searches for answers as Prairieville reels in fear during its worst blood bath. But maintaining his hero facade becomes difficult the more he obsesses about the one case he’s never solved – his wife’s murder. He views every case as a chance to get one step closer to finding her murderer, but he’s starting to become unraveled from all of the dead-end leads.
The fresh blood trail leads to eccentric millionaire Heath Grim, a recluse with a face so scarred he never leaves home without his mask. Consumed with seeking vengeance for his murdered father, Grim agrees to be possessed by a mysterious supernatural entity, Abaddon. Their pact is simple. Grim must avenge the souls of the wrongful dead, who are trapped in spiritual limbo because of the violent nature of their death, by slaying those responsible and offering them as sacrifices to Abaddon. In return, Abaddon pledges aid to Grim in slaying his father’s killer.
When Detective White is disgraced and loses everything, he must choose what’s important. Does he stick to his heroic ideals and stop a murderous madman? Or does he give in to his vigilante impulses, and become the type of killer he’s hunted for so many years to claim retribution for his slain wife?
Excerpt: Adam heard a few sounds of Velcro peeling from its straps. Suddenly, Black Mask shed the mystery and ambiguity of his head gear. He became another mystery altogether. What happened to this guy? He looked like he’d seen hell, escaped, and doctored his face to give everyone else on Earth a preview.
Black Mask obviously suffered from rosacea because his skin was inflamed, swollen, and the angriest shade of red Adam had ever seen. A jagged circular scar similar to a clock face ran from Black Mask’s forehead down his cheeks to his chin. A vertical scar ran straight down the middle of his forehead and along the bridge of his nose. Two horizontal scars extended from the side of his nose and curved upward toward the temples. Two additional scars extended outward at angles from just under his nose, across his lips and ended on either side of his chin. All of the scars connected to the outer circular one like spokes to resemble a starfish shape. Adam struggled not to have any reaction, but failed to keep the corner of his mouth from inching up into a grimace.
Black Mask smirked and put his right hand up to his face. He pretended to be admiring himself in the mirror. “It’s okay, Detective. Your reaction is fairly common and a lot more subdued than most. Of course, I bet you’ve seen a lot of horrors in your line of work.
“So, you want to know the tale of Heath Grim, do you?”
You can pick up a copy on Amazon here: Grim
