The Skull Ring (Julia Stone) [Kindle Edition]

Scott Nicholson (Author)

Book Description

Julia Stone's past comes creeping back when she discovers a strange silver ring, and three men want to help her--but choosing the wrong one could cost not only her heart but her soul.

THE SKULL RING

Dr. Pamela Forrest is determined to bring Julia's memories to the surface, hoping to heal Julia's panic disorder. The therapist keeps returning Julia to a night twenty-three years ago when Julia was four. A night of hooded figures, strange chants, pain, and blood. The night her father disappeared from the face of the earth.

But the line between the past and the present begins to blur when Julia finds a silver skull ring that bears the name "Judas Stone." Someone is leaving strange messages inside her house, even though the door is locked. The handyman, who has a key, spends a lot of time in the woods behind her house. Her boyfriend Mitchell becomes distant and violent. And the cop who investigated her father's disappearance has followed her to the small Appalachian town of Elkwood.

Now she has a head full of memories, but she doesn't know which are real and which are the creations of Dr. Forrest. The shadows of Julia's panic are growing larger and darker. But succumbing to madness seems safer than heeding the whispers that claim ownership of her body and soul.

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Revised November 2010. DRM-free. A romantic psychological thriller from the bestselling Kindle author of LIQUID FEAR, DISINTEGRATION, CRIME BEAT, THE RED CHURCH, SPEED DATING WITH THE DEAD, and DRUMMER BOY. Visit Scott Nicholson's blog at Author Central on Amazon.

Excerpt bonus material from:
BENEATH by from Jeremy Robinson
33 A.D. by David McAfee
TORMENT by Jeremy Bishop.
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"A wonderful storyteller."-Sharyn McCrumb, author of The Ballad novels

"Always surprises and always entertains."--Jonathan Maberry, The Dragon Factory

"The Skull Ring creates unforgettable settings and characters. Nicholson weaves together fear and hope, cloaking his readers in palpable suspense."--Eric Wilson, NY Times best-selling Christian suspense novelist

"Scott Nicholson is a terrific writer. Like Stephen King, he has an eye and ear for the rhythms of rural America, and like King he knows how to summon serious scares. My advice? Buy everything he writes. This guy's the real deal.."--Bentley Little, His Father's Son

"Keep both hands on your pants, because Nicholson is about to scare them off."--J.A. Konrath, author of Shaken

"A chilling, suspense-filled psychological thriller." --Vicki Tyley, Thin Blood

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Scott Nicholson is the author of seven novels, including THE RED CHURCH, DRUMMER BOY, and THEY HUNGER. He's written more than 60 short stories and has released the collections ASHES, FLOWERS, and THE FIRST, as well as the comic series DIRT and DREAMBOAT. A member of International Thriller Writers, he works as a journalist and freelance editor in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. His Web site is www.hauntedcomputer.com.

Product Details

• File Size: 504 KB
• Print Length: 330 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1907190902
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Haunted Computer Books (February 19, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003980ELA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,194 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 39 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing October 11, 2010

By M. McKnight

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Let me first start by saying that I feel really badly giving a poor review to a book that doesn't have many reviews to begin with. I don't take pleasure in hurting an indie author's overall review but I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book. I'll try to give my reasons without giving away any spoilers though for those who haven't read it yet.

First, and by far my biggest gripe with this book, is the mass amounts of errors. I'm not sure if it's just the Kindle version or if it extends to the print version as well but this was a very frustrating read for me. This book is rife with incorrect words and spelling errors such as "met" instead of "meet" and "her" instead of "here". There are many instances of words that are just missing altogether as well. There really is no excuse for errors such as these that would be so easy to correct with just a couple read throughs by an editor or even some friends and family. The biggest annoyance of errors however was when the main character was having lunch at her neighbor's house for the first time. An entire page was repeated two pages after it had already been written. Not just a couple sentences but the ENTIRE page. Not only does something like that completely break you out of the reading experience but it's another example of an error that could've easily been noticed by anyone who bothered to proof read it.

My second problem with this book was the main character herself. If you've ever watched 80's horror movies and screamed for the person to "look out because the killer is behind you" or "don't throw the gun away just because the killer isn't there" then you'll have issue with this book's protagonist. Her actions are so incredibly asinine because in real life nobody would ever react the way she does. I'm going to be very vague here because, as I said, I don't want to spoil the book for anyone. However, in this book she's not like a typical main character who propels the story along. Instead, things seem to just happen to her and she rides the wave. She doesn't even really react to things most of the time. If some of these creepy things actually happened to a person, even if they were mentally unstable, they would at least try to figure out what was going on instead of just shrugging their shoulders and moving past it.

Finally, the overall book is very bland. Things don't happen quickly and when something does finally happen it's usually just glanced upon and then left behind. There are a lot of things that should've been given more significance in this book that weren't, such as the actions of her fiance. The last page of the book is very unsatisfying and leaves things unanswered but not in a good way. I found myself rushing through this book, but not because I enjoyed it, it was because I just wanted to get it over with.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Skull Ring" is a fire and brimstone rush February 22, 2010

By J.T. Cummins

Format:Kindle Edition

After surviving a horrible physical and emotional trauma, journalist Julia Stone flees the big city for a new job in the bucolic surroundings of the rural mountain town of Elkwood, North Carolina. There, with the aid of therapist, Dr. Pamela Forrest, Julia literally begins to confront her past demons and the crippling paranoia that plagues her. During these intense therapeutic sessions with Dr. Forrest, dormant memories from Julia's subconscious begin to resurface--memories that hold secrets that not only threaten Julia's sanity, but her very life.

Scott Nicholson is the author of The Red Church, They Hunger, Burial To Follow, and several other wildly captivating novels. A slick, pro-writer with a bent for moody, suspenseful tales set in the Appalachian environs of North America, Nicholson knows how to get under the skin of his characters, and thus, the reader's. In his latest venture into the backwoods, Nicholson has created one hell of a unique heroine in the guise of Julia Stone. While as plucky and resourceful a protagonist as a reader could hope for, she is also terribly burdened and deeply flawed--which makes it all the easier to embrace and root for her.

Whether you're a fan of dark fiction, thrillers, mysteries, the occult, or just damn fine writing, The Skull Ring is a fire and brimstone rush.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Barely One Star July 11, 2011

By Naoma Foreman

Format:Paperback

After I read as far as the scene between Julia and her Lawyer boyfriend in the hotel, I believed I was ready to write a great review. This scene was so well-written and it was quite frightening. But, I was very disappointed in the REST OF the BOOK. It overused the word "CREEPS". I was bored just reading this word. The ending was a mixup of events that did not interest me. Satan worship is just not that exciting as a topic. I hate writing a negative review because someone may really enjoy this book and thus avoid it. But, for me it "lost me" for all of the above and I cannot give it the high rating I had intended. Sorry.