Killing Ghost

James Hastings once enjoyed a lucrative career pretending to be someone else. But when his wife Stacey dies tragically behind their Los Angeles mansion, James finds himself alone, spiraling into grief, and haunted by a familiar menace that is not ready for him to move on.

Salvation comes in the form of Annette Copeland, a beautiful widow who moves into the house next door. James and Annette bond quickly over their losses, but soon Annette begins to exhibit uncanny manners that belong to Stacey, setting off a horrific yet alluring case of possession.

James and his unstable companion return to the deserted gated community of Sheltering Palms, where his investigations unwillingly draw the attentions of two dangerous personalities: Rick Butterfield, a delusional policeman who knows Annette’s history and still pines for her; and Aaron, a 10-year-old boy who wanders the desolate subdivision nightly, waiting for his parents to come home.

With every attempt to atone for his failings as a husband plunging James deeper into a nightmare struggle for survival, he must finally confront the ghost of the man he used to be, the origin of his resurrected other half, and the true face of the evil that has brought them together.

Killing Ghost is at once a descent into psychological terror, a midnight meditation of the addictive nature of love, and a novel that redefines the ghost story for a culture obsessed with dark entertainments.