The Remains

It’s been thirty years since the terrifying abduction of twin sisters Rebecca and Molly Underhill by a deranged man who lived in a cabin behind their house in upstate New York. Fearful of retribution against their family, the girls kept the incident secret.

Rebecca, now a painter and art teacher, and alone since Molly died of cancer, suddenly begins getting strange and anonymous text messages—the first with just her name. Is Molly trying to communicate with her? Not possible, thinks Rebecca, who’s never believed in God or an afterlife.

And it couldn’t be their attacker from so many years ago; he was imprisoned for a similar crime at about that same time. Surely he’d still be in jail or dead by now—wouldn’t he?

But things get stranger. Rebecca’s art student Francis, an autistic savant, gives her a series of paintings he’s done. Rebecca, with increasing dread, realizes the sequence of scenes depicted in the paintings match the nightmares she’s had every night since the horrific ordeal three decades earlier. How could Franny know? Is it a ghostly warning of some kind?

Unnerved, Rebecca spills the whole frightening account of the abduction to her ex-husband and friend, Michael, who, dismayed by the story, vows to help sort out the mysterious texts and disturbing series of paintings.

What happens next is a frightening rollercoaster ride that builds up to a soul-shattering climax that will leave the reader checking the locks on their doors and windows...

Vincent Zandri, traveler, adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photojournalist, is the international best-selling author of The Innocent, Godchild, Moonlight Falls, Concrete Pearl, Scream Catcher, as well as the digital shorts Pathological and Moonlight Mafia. Harlan Coben has described his work as “gritty, fast-paced, lyrical, and haunting,” while the New York Post calls it “sensational...masterful...brilliant!” In March, April, and May of 2011, he sold more than a hundred thousand Kindle ebook editions of his novels. In September 2011, he signed a major deal with Thomas and Mercer of Amazon for the publication of his new novel, Murder by Moonlight, and the republication of several of his backlist titles. An MFA in writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri has had his work translated into Dutch, Russian, and Japanese. He lives in New York, spending several months in Florence, Italy, each year writing.