Kill All Your Darlings

place.



Everything is where it's supposed to be. The lamp I always leave on is on. The furniture is arranged the way it's been arranged for years. Nothing is disturbed. Nothing is broken.



And Grendel sits on the floor, his tail flopping back and forth when he sees me.



Everything is where it's supposed to be except that someone is sitting in the recliner, legs crossed, hand gently scratching Grendel between the ears.



"Hello," she says.



My mind is slower than my body. My body reacts instantly. My muscles tense. My hands clench. My knees bend into a defensive crouch, and adrenaline shoots through me like rocket fuel.



But my mind is still trying to make sense of this scene before me. A young woman with long hair dyed an unnatural shade of red sits in my recliner petting my dog. And she greets me like she's supposed to be there, like I've asked her to wait for me to come home this evening. She wears a red coat, black jeans, and heavy boots, and her face is mostly obscured by large owllike glasses.



"Who the hell are you? You need to get out of here-"



The woman lifts her hand from Grendel's head and holds it up, cutting off my words. Grendel bounds over, sniffs my shoes. He would have barked when she first came in, because he always barks the first time he meets someone. Then he gets used to them. He looks happy to see me.



"You know who I am, Connor," she says, "and once you remember who I am, I think you're going to know why I'm here."



"I don't know who you are," I say. "But I am going to call the police if you don't get out. If you didn't take anything and didn't hurt my dog, you can just leave, and I won't press charges."



She ignores my threat. With a slow theatricality, she lifts the glasses off her face and folds them, placing them carefully in her lap. She blinks a couple of times but remains quiet.



"If you want food, you can take it. Or money. I'll give it to you. But you have to go."



"Connor."



And then

of It s Always the Husband
 
"Only the diabolical mind of the talented storyteller David Bell could concoct this mind-bendingly twisty thriller! He manages to brilliantly weaponize college, students, teachers, tenure--and even the writing of novels. Smart, audacious and completely original." 
--Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of The First to Lie  
 
"This compelling thriller about a professor, a student, and a stolen manuscript that closely mirrors a real-life murder will keep readers guessing until the very last page. Kill All Your Darlings is storytelling at its very best!"--Wendy Walker, bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten

Compulsively readable and jam-packed with more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS is first-rate literary entertainment. Suspenseful and surprising, I didn t want it to end. --Richard Chizmar, New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Boogeyman

Praise for the Novels of David Bell

"David Bell is a top-notch storyteller....I flew through this twisting, riveting psychological thriller." Cristina Alger, New York Times bestselling author of Girls Like Us

"A terrifically tense thriller with a femme fatale who will keep you guessing until the very end." Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Home Before Dark
 
"[A] suspenseful page-turning thriller." Hello Giggles

A whirlwind story about secrets, regrets, and sacrifice....a deliciously infectious thriller. Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife

"A compulsive, twisty, race-against-the-clock thriller...[a] smart and unrelenting page-turner!" Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hunter

"A tautly told, heart-pounding read...a page-turning whodunit where every character's a suspect and no one can be trusted." Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl

"[A] taut gem...a tale straight out of the psychological thriller territory blazed by the likes of Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner." Providence Journal