Kylie Brant's November Guest Post & a Giveaway!

For the last couple of months, author Kylie Brant has been guest posting here to coincide with the release of the three books in her Mindhunters trilogy! She's stopped by and kept us entertained with her experiences with writing her wonderful suspenses. This month marks the release of the last of this trilogy, Waking the Dead.

About this book - When the body of a woman is found in rural Buffalo Springs, forensic investigator Ramsey Clark is called in. Ramsey believes in evidence, not superstition. But, when another murder rocks the town, Ramsey begins to wonder if a killer is playing on everyone's fears-or a prophecy is being fulfilled.

November 3 marks the date for the last of my Mindhunters trilogy to hit the shelves. Each book in the back-to-back trilogy features a different investigator from a private forensics firm, headed by the legendary ex-FBI profiler, Adam Raiker. Seven sets of skeletal remains have shown up in a remote cave in the Oregon wilderness. All bear the mark of their killer. All are missing their skull.

Forensic anthropologist Caitlin Fleming is called in to help the sheriff's investigation into the case. Wilderness guide Zach Sharper is her unwilling assistant as he shows her through the Willamette Forest in search for clues. Despite the attraction that burns between them, Cait will let nothing shake her focus. Until the killer closes in to terminate the search--and the two on the verge of unmasking him.

I had a lot of fun with the characters in this book, because no one is what he or she seems. Cait is a former teen model, whose looks are often a detriment in her chosen forensic field. Zach Sharper is all rough edges and sex appeal :) who sought solace in the Oregon mountains after too many tours in Afghanistan.

And the killer...well, I'm going to be perfectly frank--the villain in this book creeped me out :) Or maybe I was more spooked by how well I understood him. The background and experiences that shaped him into the monster he is were very clear to me as I was writing the book. And in a perverse way, that's a good thing. The story people breathe life into the plot. Without depth, the characters are dull and lifeless. That goes double for the villain. To engage in a suspense book, the reader must feel fear. And that fear can only be experienced when the threat is real; if the villain comes across as capable of truly horrendous acts. And the better we understand him or her, the more intrigued we become. Because, let's face it--evil is compelling.

The scenes with the villain are always my favorite to write. I love delving into the darkness that exists inside the character. But they don't haunt me. When I'm asked how I can write such dark plots, or if my writing ever gives me nightmare smy answer is usually something along the lines of: I raised five kids, four of them boys. It takes *a lot* to scare me .

Check out my website at www.kyliebrant.com for more on Waking the Dead, and the other two books in the series, Waking Nightmare and Waking Evil.

I have one boy and even I know what Kylie's talking about, lol. Thanks for yet another terrific post, Kylie. It was great having you here and hope to see you here soon!

GIVEAWAY

The Prize

A copy of Waking the Dead will go to one lucky reader (print copy if the winner is in US, an ecopy otherwise).

To Enter

• Just leave a comment with your email address in the body of the comment itself telling me : what's the stuff of your nightmares?! If you don't want to share, then name an unforgettable villain from the pages of a novel, any novel.
  
• Please list your email address within your comment so that you can be notified should you be chosen as a winner.

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Deadline   Midnight CST of December 3, 2009.

Eligibility  OPEN WORLDWIDE.

Please read the Disclaimer. Good luck!

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