Talion [Kindle Edition]

Mary Maddox (Author)

Book Description

Meet Rad Sanders, the most terrifying serial killer you will ever encounter, in a thriller unlike any you have ever read...

Lu Jakes lives with her alcoholic father and abusive stepmother, Norlene, at Hidden Creek Lodge in the Utah mountains. When the beautiful Lisa is sent by her protective parents to stay at the lodge for the summer, Lu makes her first real friend - dangerously unaware that Lisa's is not the only new face at the resort.

For Lisa has been followed by Rad Sanders, a sadistic killer who has plans for the girls - sick plans that will drag them and their families to the very brink of hell. Rad stalks Lu and Lisa, waiting for his moment, certain that his deadly plan cannot fail.

But unknown to Rad, Lu has a secret. She can see things that nobody else can see: the spirit Talion and his companions. But are these spirits real or a trick of the mind? And will Lu's special gift help her and Lisa as the killer closes in...

TALION is a gripping, intense tale of friendship, family and dark desires, that blends Thomas Harris with Stephen King.  It is a book that will make you want to sleep with all the lights on - if you can sleep at all.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Silence of the Lambs" meets "The Turn of the Screw" . . . . The story is propelled by suspense, and made delicious by Maddox's Ray Bradbury-like gift for deft, deep-shadowed description.
--Charleston Times-Courier

From the Back Cover

"A gripping and relentless novel about desperate people in a desperate world...The impeccable prose of Mary Maddox makes it impossible to turn away from Rad, the brutal serial killer whose insatiable hunger threatens anyone who crosses his path, and Lu, the young teenage girl who is not what she appears to be, who possesses a power that may deliver unto Rad a reckoning beyond his imagination. This dark, but beautifully rendered novel is one you do not want to miss."

Roxane Gay, author of Ayiti

"The author is a spellbinder...In Talion, Mary Maddox pits a sadistic killer against two achingly vulnerable potential victims with an effortless narrative control that kept me wide-eyed, as anxious over the outcome as in my early glory days as a reader."

Sherwood Kiraly, author of Diminished Capacity and Big Babies

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 301 KB
• Print Length: 298 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0984428100
• Publisher: Cantraip Press; 2 edition (March 29, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007Q4LNNG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,174 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars True suspense, a serial killer, adolescent girls, and a pinch of the supernatural February 17, 2010

By Crazy Reader

Format:Kindle Edition

If you crave suspense and enjoy the unexpected, treat yourself to Talion. A serial killer stalks through this book, written in prose as ruthless as he is. In sharp contrast, the main character is a very sensitively imagined teenage girl who sees things the rest of us don't. The unlikely friendship of the misfit Lu with the much more savvy Lisa makes this a book about young people, but it's definitely still a novel for adults. Check out the sample chapter and I bet you'll have to keep reading. Mary Maddox has been quietly publishing stunning fiction for a long time--thanks to Kindle for making this novel available.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Average Serial Killer Story October 12, 2012

By AlyseGarner

Format:Kindle Edition

Mary Maddox's Talion follows a number of interweaving stories of the guests, workers and owners of a Mountain guest lodge in Utah. Lisa, the bubbly teenage niece of the owners tries desperately to have fun under the strict religious gaze of her family, her new friend Lu struggles under the poor and abusive hand of her own trailer-trash parents and the predatory Rad stalks both girls, fantasizing about what he do to them.

Things are not quite as straight forward as they seem in this serial killer thriller set amongst picturesque woods and babbling pools. As the story jumps back and forth in time, touching on the previous victims of the vicious guest Rad, and explores the quiet and distracted nature of the bespectacled Lu snatches of conversation between Lu and her unseen guardian and guide begin to introduce us to the fantastical and supernatural aspect of the narrative.

Though the meaning of the existence of the beautiful Talion remains unclear for quite some time his presence is by far the most intriguing aspect of the story; the relationship between he and Lu is interesting and often quite touching giving the book that ineffably over-emotional quality of so many teenage fantasy dramas. Yet the dark and magical world inhabited by Talion and his companions jars against the morbid, tasteless and rather unimaginative world of the murderer Rad whose only fantasies are of the rape and violent deaths that await his would-be victims.

The intensity of Rad's bloodlust stands out, not like a dangerous threat to the peace world of Lu and Lisa, but like a plot line from another book that has mistakenly wandered into this one. It is easy enough to see what Maddox was aiming for by including such a character but his actions are too extreme and out of place for the overall tone of the book.

These rather uncomfortable excerpts make the book a little hard going in places and many readers will be tempted to give up and put it down; however I advise though with enough patience to preserve as the finale is sufficiently satisfactory and Maddox's writing is both evocative and suspenseful. This is not your average thriller.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended by Reader's Choice! December 19, 2010

By RCBR

Format:Paperback

Author Mary Maddox combines the best of horror-suspense and page-turning thriller with a hint of supernatural in her disturbing, yet entertaining debut, Talion.

A killer descends on Hidden Creek Lodge, one that needs to kill like others need food or the attention of a lover. Not new to murder, Conrad Sanders takes a sick pleasure in his ritual of torture and brutality. Sanders checks into the lodge using an alias; his appearance, average, unassuming, and forgettable.

Meanwhile, Lisa Duncan is staying with her Uncle Hank and Aunt Debbie, the owner-operators of the lodge. Back home Lisa is a popular teen with beauty queen good looks. Her parents sent her to the lodge for the summer as they believed she had fallen in with the wrong crowd. Bored and cut off from her friends, she explores her surroundings and meets Lu Jakes.

Lu keeps to herself, hiding in her room behind her glasses. She lives with an alcoholic father, Duane, and a severely abusive step-mother, Noreen. Normally, Lisa wouldn't be seen with such a girl...but there is no one else to hang out with so she invites Lu swimming. Nearby Lu for most of the story is a trio of otherworldly beings. Lu is in communication with her beloved Talion, and is aware of his companions, Delatar, and Black Claw. Author Maddox is able to keep the reader guessing if these creatures are imagined, the products of a mentally ill mind, or if they are, in fact, supernatural entities. Sanders has already set his ghoulish sites on Lisa. When he notices Lu, he believes he can set the friends against each other in a wicked two-for-one slaying. Sanders makes his move and fully expects an easy kill; however, his experience and planning can't prepare him for what only Lu can see....

Mary Maddox uses back story effectively with ample transition to show her audience what kind of a monster Sanders has become and from where his darkness originated. Her description of the murders is shocking, gory, and yet not over the top. She is skilled at turning up the tension and kept me riveted throughout. Lisa and Lu are interesting, well-drawn protagonists, and Sanders is a villain as horrible as he is captivating. All the ingredients are included for a frightening, enjoyable read for those who like their fiction dark. I would have liked to have seen the Talion character take on a larger role in the plot, but this is a minor complaint.

I highly recommend Talion and . . . I urge to you read it with the lights on!

More About the Author

I began my life in Soldier Summit, Utah, a town of a few dozen people high in the mountains. My father owned a cafe, a gas station, and a combination grocery-bar - literally half the businesses in town. Even a minnow can be a big fish if the pond is small enough. Though I have lived in the Midwest for most of my adult life, I still miss the mountains and dream that someday I'll live there again.

I graduated from Knox College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. I taught writing at Eastern Illinois University. Now retired, I live in Charleston, Illinois with my husband, film scholar Joseph Heumann, and our bird, Westie. My short fiction has appeared in various literary journals and has been honored with Writer's Grant and a Literary Award from the Illinois Arts Council.

Along with writing fiction, I spend my time reading, playing Scrabble at the local club, and riding my horse, Tucker.