The Homecoming: Book Two of the Niceville Trilogy (Niceville Series 2)

From its explosive opening to its eerie climax, The Homecoming is a page-turning, labyrinthine thrill ride that returns to Niceville . . . where evil lives far longer than men do. When two plane crashes set off a spellbinding chain reaction of murder, inadvertent kidnapping, corporate corruption, and financial double-dealing, its not enough that Niceville detective Nick Kavanaugh (exSpecial Forces) has to investigate. He and his wife, family lawyer Kate, have also just taken in brutally orphaned Rainey Teague. Something bothers Nick about Raineyand it isnt just that the woman in charge of attendance at Raineys prep school has disappeared. In fact, people have long been disappearing from seemingly placid Niceville, including, most disturbingly, Kates father. Using his files, Kate and Nick start to unearth Nicevilles blood stained history, but something (or is it Nothing ?) stands in their way. Once again, Carsten Stroud gives us unforgettable characters, including Coker, the steely, amoral police sniper, and Harvill Endicott, an urbanely manipulative psychopath, not to mention Warren Smoles, the most conniving lawyer you will ever meet. Strouds unique storytelling gifts bring us into a world where protecting your family from the unknown becomes almost impossible but essential for survival. Anything is possible in The Homecoming. From Booklist Attorney Kate Kavanaugh and her husband, Nick, a cop, decide to take in Rainey Teague. Rainey had been missing for over a year, until he was found in a crypt. His parents committed suicide shortly thereafter, and the troubled young man needs a home. All of this relates somehow to a magic mirror that harkens back to some nightmarish history. Kates brother-in-law is terrorizing his family, and her sister, Beth, finally leaves him, taking their kids and moving in with Kate and Nick, too. Meanwhile, Beths husband has been implicated in a bank robbery during which several police officers have been killed, but while being transported, he escapes. Then theres the group of Chinese spies who have died in a plane crash. All these complications are nothing, though, compared to the paranormal, creepy things going on in this small, southern town. All the characters are quirky and well developed, and the violence is integral to the story. The second book in the Niceville trilogy is a genre-bending, page-turning, suspenseful read that is impossible to put down or to forget. --Stacy Alesi Review An addictive small-town terror symphony masquerading as a beach read. . . . Stroud writes with a dry with and a conversational snap. Entertainment Weekly The Homecoming is classic southern noir crossed with a bit of Dean Koontz, and Stroud doesn't let the supernatural overpower the plot. Simply terrific. Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stroud works with the precision of a watchmaker. . . Snappy dialogue is the rocket fuel that propels this swift-moving book. . . The high-speed chase that roars onto the page a fourth of the way into the story [is] a beautifully set-up, thrilling scene. . . and it holds up against anything Hollywood can offer for summer entertainment. Besides, can you immerse yourself in a Hollywood blockbuster while sunning on the beach? Doug Childers, The Richmond Times-Dispatch Strouds tight plotting and colorful characters bounce between hard-boiled crime drama and suspenseful, creepy supernatural thriller. . . . The Homecoming is a breathless read with endless surprises and the solid writing of an author firmly in control of his craft. Rob LeFebvre, Shelf Awareness A genre-bending, page-turning, suspenseful read that is impossible to put down or to forget. Booklist A rich, realistic supernatural thriller. Publishers Weekly Formats : EPUB, MOBI Something is wrong in Niceville. . . A boy literally disappears from Main Street. A security camera captures the moment of his instant, inexplicable vanishing. An audacious bank robbery goes seriously wrong: four cops are gunned down; a TV news helicopter is shot and spins crazily out of the sky, triggering a disastrous cascade of events that ricochet across twenty different lives over the course of just thirty-six hours. Nick Kavanaugh, a cop with a dark side, investigates. Soon he and his wife, Kate, a distinguished lawyer from an old Niceville family, find themselves struggling to make sense not only of the disappearance and the robbery but also of a shadow world, where time has a different rhythm and where justice is elusive. . . .Something is wrong in Niceville, where evil lives far longer than men do. Compulsively readable, and populated with characters who leap off the page, Niceville will draw you in, excite you, amaze you, horrify you, and, when it finally lets you go, make you sorry you have to leave. Read the first thirty-five pages. Find out why Harlan Coben calls Carsten Stroud the master of “the nerve-jangling thrill ride.” Now with an excerpt from Carsten Stroud’s next book, The Homecoming. "Somewhere in the American South, there is a town where something is very, very wrong. A place where malicious men may die, but malice ... never. When Carsten Stroud's previous novel, Niceville, was published, Elmore Leonard wrote: "I hope Mr. Stroud, having had so much fun writing Niceville, listening to his people give him terrific dialogue, is writing a sequel or another one like it." We give you The Homecoming. Kate and Nick Kavanaugh (lawyer and cop respectively) take in young Rainey Teague, whose parents have died under mysterious circumstances. Rainey is a handful. Well, actually, Rainey is turning out to be someone--or something--downright scary: a shape-shifting time-bending little boy who will have to resist being taken over by "Nothing." Will Kate and Nick be able to save him? Will the mirror they have kept up in the attic ultimately be their downfall? When more disappearances start to happen, where do they turn? No one can explain what is happening, but everyone knows that their sleepy, peaceful town, Niceville, is turning out to be anything but nice."-- Provided by publisher In Niceville, a pleasant Southern town where evil lurks just beneath the surface, two back-to-back airplane crashes set off a spellbinding chain reaction of murder, inadvertent kidnapping, and double-dealing. Detective Nick Kavanaugh must balance his investigation into the accidents with family concerns and a long-buried mystery. He and his wife Kate, a family lawyer, have taken in Kate’s sister and her two children, escaping their abusive father Byron Deitz. The Kavanaughs are also caring for the orphaned Rainey Teague, who recently survived a strange kidnapping and has come back a very different child. Rainey was not the last person to vanish from a Niceville street; most recently, an administrator from Rainey’s school, and—even worse—Kate’s father, a local historian, have gone missing. Using her father’s files, Kate and Nick start to unearth their town’s bloodstained past, trying to discover the truth behind generations of disappearances. But a sinister someone—or something—stands in their way.