This book is about my novel, North Window. I wrote it between 2010 and 2015. I have written four novels in total and North Window is my third. I had a job, family and a house. My life couldn’t seem more ordinary. I had been writing stories since my early teens and thought nothing of it. This story seemed to bear no relevance to my life at all. Insomniac, Luke has two lives. By day, he is drafting documents between corporations; by night, he pays to watch erotica from his apartment window. But one performer rues the day she took the commission. Who is this client she works for? And why does the night bring unease when her voyeur takes his post within the shadows? A year after completing this novel, I learned something truly terrible about myself. Unbeknown to me, clues to this horrific truth had leaked into my stories, paintings, poems and other creations. I have since discovered an undercurrent to this novel. This undercurrent was rendered invisible to the one I believed I was writing. My novels are not strictly novels at all, but something sinister. The dictionary lacks a word for what they really are. As this is a true story, I have used my diaries as part of this account. Illustrations are provided in order to convey the intensity of my inner world. One word of note: Dispel all preconceptions about this novel. The story is nothing like what it appears.

This story is true. This book is about my novel Nadia. I published this novel in the spring of 2015. By this time, I had written three other crime thrillers. Nadia is my fourth and final one. Nadia was first conceived when I was seventeen. The year was 1982 and I had just begun art school. Thirty-three years later, I would write it. The story seemed to bear no relevance to my life at all. A playboy billionaire is involved in a horrific car crash, propelling his mystery passenger into a nightmare. During the writing, I felt geared, prompted by a force. I had believed this to be routine writer’s itch. What I didn’t realise was that an undercurrent existed in this novel. This undercurrent was rendered invisible to the novel I believed I was writing. The same thing has happened to all my novels. A scene in Nadia would open my eyes. It was autumn 2016 and the life I had believed in would be destroyed. Five years after beginning Nadia I am ready to analyse it. I have been through this process three times already with my previous novels. All have been harrowing and all have given up hard truths. As this is a true story, I have included relevant diary entries. These inform upon the force that drives this novel as well as tell its own story.

Between 2011 and 2014, I wrote eight short stories. I had been writing stories since I was about six. Weird scenarios would enter my head and I would feel compelled to write about them. Blood in Water relates on Abby who makes an awful discovery about her family. Dead Letter Room samples the life of lonely Finch at his workplace. Outside enters the disturbed mind of an ex-convict and What Goes Around considers the makings of a bully. On the surface all appear to delve into diverse worlds and minds. But this isn’t quite so. They are all about alienation. My other stories are the same: alienation. It goes right back to my early children’s mysteries of the Seventies. How strange. I hadn’t noticed. The reason is that I would make my own personal discovery in 2016. I was fifty-one years old and living with my partner and two children. Until then, I was completely unaware of a vital truth about myself. This truth has leaked into my stories and creations without my realisation. This account is true. Relevant diary entries have been included as well as illustrations. Analyses and further dissections provides an insight into the force behind these stories, and ventures into the strange phenomena I have discovered. It’s like a ghost language.

Noreen Mayr suffers through her marriage for 4,745 days—nearly thirteen years—before she finds the courage to change her life. At that point, one terrifying night, she packs her children into the old Plymouth and slips away into the night. As she leaves the house she shared with her husband, she knows she is saving more than the children’s lives; she is saving their futures, too. As the victims of cruel and unending psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her husband, Ray Mayr, she and her children have endured more than they could bear. Curious as to how one man could be so angry, she looks into his own childhood. There, she discovers a frightening truth, but no solutions to help spare her own children. Escape is the only answer, and Noreen knows she must take any chance that fate has presented her. As she drives into the night, embarking on an unknown but necessary journey to freedom and safety, she has no idea of the challenges she and her children will face. This is their story, one of sadness, fear, sorrow-and an escape to a successful, safe, and sane future, filled with hope. Noreen’s future comes to a screeching halt when she encounters a stranger.

A “beautiful literary thriller” (Los Angeles Review of Books) inspired by the shocking history of a secret CIA mind-control program, Half World is “the perfect book for our present moment” (The Daily Beast). In the 1950s the CIA began a decades-long clandestine operation, known as Project MKULTRA, in which unwitting American citizens were subjected to insidious drug and mind-control experiments. Haunted by these real-life events, acclaimed novelist Scott O’Connor has crafted a riveting novel that vividly imagines the devastating emotional legacy of such a program through the eyes of one of its more unexpected victims. CIA analyst Henry March, an unassuming “company man” forced to spearhead MKULTRA’s San Francisco branch, finds himself bridging an untenable divide between his devotion to his wife and children and the brutality of his daily task. Torn between duty and conscience, Henry March chooses neither, instead disappearing without a trace. He takes with him the evidence of his sins and thus becomes the deepest MKULTRA mystery of all. Twenty years later, as the country struggles under the weight of the Vietnam War, another troubled young agent will risk everything to find Henry, protect his family, and piece together the staggering aftermath of the crimes before it’s too late. Hailed as “one to watch” (Los Angeles Times) for his ability “to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters” (The New York Times), O’Connor has crafted a stunning, sensitive, and psychologically astute look at the depths to which a government will sink in service of its own power and the strength required of the human spirit to set itself free. Gorgeous and unflinching, Half World is both a page-turning drama and a transcendent celebration of our enduring capacity for hope.

Stephen Northington was ten years old when his parents died. His maternal grandmother, knowing his parents wishes, continued to raise the Northington children as Christians. Stephen grew into a personable, easy going and laid back guy. He is a non-politically correct Christian man without the expected fire-and-brimstone personality whose character is not often challenged. However, even though his Christian beliefs are sometimes questioned non-believers find it hard to argue with him. Kathy Hall was raised with very little religious influence in her life. She grew up in an upper middle class family and was the youngest of four children and the only daughter. She was very popular in high school and college and had the same four best friends all eight years. She grew up to be a very beautiful woman and is successful in her career. But, Kathy is not successful in love and is a divorcee who is also the mother of a very urban preteen daughter, Kendra. Kendra is pampered but not spoiled. She is allowed the freedoms of most urban children. She travels to malls and Chicago attractions using the public transportation systems with her closest friends and knows the Chicago streets better than most adults. She is also well aware of her mother’s single-life woes as she watches first hand the men that come in and out of her life and is present when her mother’s friends sit around the kitchen table to discuss the details of their romantic adventures and failures. Stephen and Kathy are coworkers at a major corporation and they eventually become acquainted. They are assigned side-by-side cubicles where they become regular coffee chit-chatters. Kathy uses Stephen as a sounding board for her weekly Monday morning pity party cries over her failed relationships. Eventually, Kathy has a revelation as she suddenly sees Stephen in a new light and their lives become intertwined. They find themselves facing life issues that initially create conflict between Kathy and Stephen. The conflict between them begins to subside but increases for Kendra. As they move forward with their lives Stephen is encouraged, Kathy is motivated but Kendra’s frustration deepens. The lives of the three of them become more intertwined as they face new and more challenging conflicts. See how these three handles a homosexual couple attending a barbecue at the home of Christians and decide to challenge the host; Kendra develops a friendship with a Christian girl and they become best friends. She watches as her friend gets bullied by a school classmate and tries to encourage her; and Kathy is alarmed and frustrated with the surprising political agendas revealed at the public school Kendra attends and challenges the administration. Stephen, Kathy and Kendra handle these challenges and more in The Northington Chronicles, A New Beginning. Book Reviews: I found reading The Northington Chronicles to be magnetizing. From the opening paragraph you're drawn in with the conflict swirling through Kendra's mind. L. J. Watts has keenly constructed many scenarios that provide the correct amount of tension which makes The Northington Chronicles a compelling can't-put-the-book-down read. Each chapter, each scene, begs both questions and answers. How would I react if this event appeared in my life? Not only are you given a glimpse inside the three main characters lives, you truly get to live vicariously through them as their stories unfold. Kudos to the author and may God continue to bless you. ERW Northington Chronicles: A New Beginning is the best book I've read in years. It's a mixture of everyday life issues with some comedy and drama with a little bit of romance sprinkled in there. There's so much to learn from reading this book including how to biblically (Christ-like) handle situations like bullying, and domestic/civil coupling, etc. It's a great book for book clubs because it causes one to have questions a

Michael Randall flees to the wild seas around the Shetlands to escape an impossible dilemma. There he finds a North Sea oil rig and the unlikely possibility of a new life. But one stormy night this glimmer of hope for the future, and Randall's life itself, is thrown into jeopardy.

Was it a cruel twist of fate or the carefully laid plan of a ruthless businessman? Jaclyn Tate, a stunning and accomplished commercial real estate broker, was haunted by that question when the man with whom she shared an impulsive and passionate affair turned out to be the unethical party who beat her to the closing table on the biggest deal of her illustrious career. Steven Cason, the charismatic and most desired bachelor in Dallas is the ultimate dealmaker and one of the most powerful men in town. He would allow no one to surpass him at his game, especially not on his home turf and on his prized real estate deal. The stakes are high, the passion intense. Two parties, Jaclyn and Steven are each willing to do whatever it takes to close the deal. How far are they willing to go?

'A terrific future-shock thriller' LEE CHILD The person he's ordered to kill, is the one woman he wants to protect. Michael North, assassin and spy-for-hire, is very good at killing bad guys. But what happens when his shadowy bosses at the dark heart of the British government order him to kill a good woman instead? Rising political star, Honor Jones, MP, is asking dangerous questions about the men running her country. Questions that have put a target on her back. North's intuition tells him she's innocent. In a widespread game of power and betrayal, North will need to find his allies – fast. But with a bullet lodged in his brain, can he even trust himself? Perfect for fans of David Baldacci, Lee Child and Mark Dawson, Killing State is the explosive start to an action-packed thriller series from a Sunday Times bestselling author. 'A gritty, action-packed page-turner' ANDY MCNAB 'New thriller writers come and go. I suspect this lady will stick around' FREDERICK FORSYTH 'Thought-provoking, pacy and thrilling' SUNDAY MIRROR 'Fast-paced and packed with action... A series hero to watch' MICK HERRON 'Gripping and twisty' INDIA KNIGHT 'Grabs you from page one and won't let you go... Action-packed from start to finish – but with tenderness and great characterisation too. Fast, sharply written, clever and intense' JEREMY VINE, BBC2 'A high-octane plot that centres around the dark heart of British political power. A great debut' SUNDAY TIMES

This novel of murder and its aftermath in a small Vermont town in the 1950s is “reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird . . . Absorbing” (The New York Times). In Kingdom County, Vermont, the town’s new Presbyterian minister is a black man, an unsettling fact for some of the locals. When a French-Canadian woman takes refuge in his parsonage—and is subsequently murdered—suspicion immediately falls on the clergyman. While his thirteen-year-old son struggles in the shadow of the town’s accusations, and his older son, a lawyer, fights to defend him, a father finds himself on trial more for who he is than for what he might have done. “Set in northern Vermont in 1952, Mosher’s tale of racism and murder is powerful, viscerally affecting and totally contemporary in its exposure of deep-seated prejudice and intolerance . . . [A] big, old-fashioned novel.” —Publishers Weekly “A real mystery in the best and truest sense.”—Lee Smith, The New York Times Book Review A Winner of the New England Book Award