Love Her Darkly: A Psychological Thriller

Book 1: Shadows of Love

by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain

Genres: Horror; Psychological Thrillers

Synopsis

Love and danger. Sex and violence. The heart wants what the heart wants.

When a couple on a crime spree slashes down the east coast into Florida, the perfect vacation goes horribly wrong. Armed robbery. Kidnapping. Murder. Innocent travelers get swept up in the violent wave.

Desire runs from light to dark. Loving thoughts turn to dark fantasies.

Ellie is a college student on spring break. After years living under the shadows of controlling parents, this wallflower is finally free — or trying to be.

This vacation will be an inflection point in her life, she knows. Can she shake off the nerves and come out of her shell?

Wes is a social media influencer. After years of drifting through the days, he's looking for something different, something real, something that actually means something to him. Has he found that in Ellie?

Sparks fly as soon as Wes and Ellie meet. Drinks in the bar turn to walks on the beach. It escalates from there.

And that's where the dead body comes in.

Love pushes a person to extremes, shoves them into the darkest places.

Detective Avery Stinson works the case: a dead body found in a ravine alongside a motel in the boonies. No marks on the body, but it all seems to be related to Jimmy and Scarlet, the modern day Bonnie and Clyde ripping through the county and leaving a path of destruction.

Stinson follows the clues deeper and deeper into danger. The way ahead keeps distorting and rippling, morphing shadows that won't hold still.

And that's where the shocking twist comes in.

What happens when that passion delves too deeply, wants too greedily?

Soon all the paths cross. Detective Stinson, Wes, and Ellie find themselves confronting a chaotic force that's more complex than it first seems.

Life and death hang in the balance. Not everyone will make it.

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Release date: April 30, 2025

Publisher: Smarmy Press

Print pages: 614