EVO
Diane May
Publication date: July 23rd 2018
Genres: Adult, Thriller
A covert CIA operation that involves genetic engineering.
A serial killer nicknamed “The Hypnotist”.
And the most terrifying threat humanity has to face.
What if someone could take complete control over your mind?
And what if that someone was a serial killer?
Discover EVO, a gripping crime thriller that reviewers and readers describe as “spellbinding”, “high-energy” and “impossible to put down”.
Langley, Virginia, twenty years earlier:
John Blake, a CIA special agent, stumbles upon an illegal genetic experiment within the agency, conducted on unborn babies and officially presented as a fertility program designed to help couples get pregnant. When he realizes that his very own daughter is a product of this sinister plot and that she is in grave danger, he vows to do everything it takes to make sure Maya will be safe and the people behind the experiment will all pay. With their lives.
Verona, Italy, present time:
Livio Marchiori, a homicide detective with the highest rate of solved cases in Verona, is faced with The Hypnotist, a serial killer the likes of which he’s never seen before. He never touches his victims and he leaves no evidence behind, except for the detailed videos of his murders. And what Marchiori and his team see on those videos is more disturbing than all their other cases combined. Because this one is different. This one defies all rational thinking and borders the impossible.
Then The Hypnotist gets personal and threatens to kill Dr. Abby Jones, the chief medical examiner and the woman Marchiori is in love with. Caught in a cat-and-mouse game with the elusive killer, Marchiori knows he is quickly running out of time.
So when Captain Victor Miller from Interpol walks into town, Marchiori is more than happy to partner again with the man who two years ago helped him put an entire mafia clan behind bars. But Miller has his own agenda, and Marchiori soon discovers that there is more to these crimes than meets the eye, an entire thread of things way beyond his pay grade – illegal experiments, secret agencies, and the most terrifying threat humanity has to face.
A gripping serial killer thriller with a “hit-the-brakes-with-both-feet plot twist that may leave even the most jaded among us feeling good about humanity.”
“He stripped down, threw his clothes in the blue hamper behind the door, and got in the shower. He turned his body away from the faucet and placed his hands on the wall, letting the hot water beat down his back. Doing this usually relaxed him, but now it somehow amplified this weird restlessness, this foreboding feeling he couldn’t shake off. Annoyed at himself, he quickly washed his body, turned off the faucet and reached for the brown towel on the hook.
A heavy silence filled his apartment. A few drops of water from the shower head splashed onto the ceramic tiles below, the sound deafening to his ears. His heart started beating faster. All of a sudden he wanted to hear human voices, his neighbours yelling at each other, their baby crying, anything but this dead silence and the rhythmic tapping of the water drops.
An icy shiver rippled down his spine and his body started shaking. Unseen walls were sliding down around him, trapping him. Suffocating him.”
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Guest Post
Vulnerability is an act of courage
I have recently watched a very popular TED Talk, called The Power of Vulnerability, given by Dr. Brené Brown, and it resonated with me deeply. We all know that having a social life greatly benefits our mental and physical health. Spending quality time with our friends and loved ones reduces stress, makes us feel happier, more optimistic about life in general, and, on a physical level, it strengthens our immune system, which in turn leads to better health.
The problem, however, is that as adults we have “emotional baggage”. We fall in love, we experience hurt and betrayal, and as a result, a core belief is born: love hurts; or men are cheaters; or women lie. And this becomes our truth. But the hurt can come even earlier in life. Imagine a mother who neglects her child and doesn’t give him the love and support he needs, and a violent father who is too busy getting drunk to care. That is bound to leave deep scars, and after experiencing something like this most of us would undoubtedly become experts at closing ourselves off and keeping people at an arm’s length.
When I was a child we moved around quite a bit because my dad was in the army. The first time it happened I was eight years old, and I cried and cried because I didn’t want to leave my friends. The second time it happened I was eleven and I promised myself I would never make friends again. And so I started reading more – I was already in love with reading – and never left the house, except when I had to go to school or my mum told me to take out the garbage. My parents got worried because I would read between one and three books a day, depending on the length of the book, and completely refuse to go out and make friends. The message I took home from those two painful experiences? There’s no point in making friends or letting people in your heart because, sooner or later, you’re going to lose them; but books will never leave you. And this became one of my core beliefs. How does it affect my relationships with people? Well, I either reveal too much about myself in a forced attempt to create a connection, or I reveal nothing and I push people away because keeping my guard up comes natural to me.
Now imagine if someone like me met someone like the child who didn’t receive love and support from his parents. What thoughts could go through their minds? “Don’t show her what you really feel, who you really are; she will never love you.” “Don’t fall in love with him; you know he’ll leave you.” Two people who are bound to hurt each other, who would never have a nurturing relationship unless they opened up, showed their feelings and talked about their fears. But that would mean revealing the vulnerable side of ourselves, usually hidden behind masks and walls, and in our society being vulnerable is often seen as being weak. In the military, vulnerability is a measurement for how likely it is for damage to be inflicted, and most people think that opening up will only expose us to pain and humiliations we could easily avoid by staying strong and self-contained.
But here’s what Dr. Brené Brown says about this. In the course of her research she discovered two types of people: the ones who felt whole and had a strong sense of love and belonging; and the ones who struggled with this. So she wanted to see what the first group had in common, and what she discovered is this: “They fully embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. They didn't talk about vulnerability being comfortable, nor did they really talk about it being excruciating (…) They just talked about it being necessary. They talked about the willingness to say, "I love you" first ... the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees... They're willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out. They thought this was fundamental.”
Some people say “I’m blasé” and by this they mean “nothing moves me anymore.” Because maybe they got hurt one too many times or they saw so much ugliness in this world that they can’t cope with it anymore. So they numb those hard feelings. But as Dr. Brown says, “when we numb those, we numb joy, we numb gratitude, we numb happiness. And then, we are miserable, and we are looking for purpose and meaning, and then we feel vulnerable, so then we have a couple of beers and a banana nut muffin. And it becomes this dangerous cycle.”
How do we get out of this vicious circle? We “let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen.” We love deeply and from the bottom of our hearts, in spite of the fact that there are no guarantees the other person will love us back. We love ourselves and feel grateful for all the good things in our lives, but also for the lessons learnt the hard way. And we believe that we’re good enough. You know why? Because we are.
Author Bio:
Diane May is a crime thriller writer and she lives in Verona, Italy, with her husband. When she's not in her office writing, she can usually be found curled up on the sofa with a good book in her lap and a cup of green tea next to her.
The only daughter of an army colonel, she grew up on military bases where she learnt about weapons, discipline and the sacrifices of military life. She also worked for many years as a translator and interpreter for the Court of Law on mostly criminal cases.
EVO is her debut novel and she is currently working on her second crime thriller, Till Death Do Us Part, scheduled to be released in 2019.
GIVEAWAY!
Blitz-wide giveaway (US/UK)
- Paperback copy of EVO
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