- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Atria Books (April 23, 2013)
- ISBN-10: 1451677812
- Source: Publisher
They come for me as I sleep. Their pale faces stare at me, their soft voices tell me to wake, to wake. They come dressed in the clothes they were in before they died, though there is no blood on them. I know what they want, because when it comes to people who are ghosts because of you, there really is just the one thing. They cannot touch me because they have no real form. I cannot touch them either, cannot push them aside. I feel the guilt they want me to feel–I feel very little else.
When Charlie wakes up, his head his pounding and his clothes are covered in blood. He cannot recall the events of the previous night yet, with one look at the newspaper his memories come rushing back. Two women are found brutally murdered. Charlie didn’t kill them, yet the only evidence the authorities uncover lead directly to him. In a panic, he goes to the home of his ex-wife, Jo. Given Charlie’s history with violence, Jo can’t immediately trust that he is not responsible for the deaths. Certain that they are both in danger from the man who did commit the crimes, Charlie abducts Jo and flees. Haunted by the ghosts of the two dead women, Charlie must simultaneously prove his innocence to both his ex-wife and the authorities while also trying to evade the grasp of the true killer.
Originally written as horror and then published in 2007, Cleave combines attributes of this genre with those of a chilling psychological thriller. Not necessarily a book for the weak of heart (or stomach), The Killing Hour captivates readers with an incredibly twisty storyline and flawed, unreliable characters. A novel that shouldn’t be read in the dark (for that’s when all the evil happens), I highly recommend The Killing Hour to fans of horror and dark psychological thrillers.
