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Absolution Blues
When teenager Eric Thorogood came home to find a simple burglary had cost his parents their lives, he shot and killed the intruder. After he discovers the thief was only trying to get cash to provide for his dying wife and daughter, the ghost of the man he murdered follows him everywhere.
After two decades on the run, Thorogood meets a truck-stop waitress and feels he has a second chance at love and a life, until the ghost of his past reemerges and leaves his newfound life covered in blood. When the ghost wants one last midnight ride of revenge, can Eric outrun his past and be absolved of his sins, or is he destined to live in hell on Earth?
After two decades on the run, Thorogood meets a truck-stop waitress and feels he has a second chance at love and a life, until the ghost of his past reemerges and leaves his newfound life covered in blood. When the ghost wants one last midnight ride of revenge, can Eric outrun his past and be absolved of his sins, or is he destined to live in hell on Earth?
194 pages, Paperback
Published June 2, 2023
13 people want to read
About the author
Alexander Nader
29 books108 followersWrites novels about the dark things floating around in his head because the demons won’t let him sleep otherwise. Jokes are his weapon of choice, but will resort to deflection in times of emergency. Did you know Maine is closer to Africa than any other state?
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 12, 2023
Great horror read. It's not my usual genre, but I wanted something different. It definitely delivers in making you shiver.
Also, you're not going to want to put it down so plan on staying up all night to finish it and because you won't be able to sleep without the ghost of Wade smiling at you maniacally.
Eric is on the run from the ghost of someone he wronged. After he meets Sofia, he thinks maybe.... just maybe he's run far enough.
But you can never run from your past.
Also, you're not going to want to put it down so plan on staying up all night to finish it and because you won't be able to sleep without the ghost of Wade smiling at you maniacally.
Eric is on the run from the ghost of someone he wronged. After he meets Sofia, he thinks maybe.... just maybe he's run far enough.
But you can never run from your past.
August 15, 2023
Amazing book. This might be the best book I’ve read so far this year, the kind of story that I’ll be thinking about for a while. Nonstop-thrill ride that I had trouble putting down, a story that takes root in the gray areas surrounding morality and what it’s like to be a human on this planet and follows up with a story of what grief and guilt can cost us.
If you want a book-club book that will lead to a lot of discussion? Look no further.
If you want a book-club book that will lead to a lot of discussion? Look no further.
June 2, 2023
I haunt the highways, running from an evil I can never escape. I haven't seen him in years, but he’s out there.
Watch the time. Do not stay too long. Watch the map. It won't matter but at least you'll know where you are. Watch the dates. You are going to be haunted for twenty years. Every day. Every hour. Remember to breathe, remember to keep moving. No matter how tired you are. No matter the pain you feel. He will never leave you alone. Not until everything is finished. Not until everything has been squared. Not absolution, no. But a final payment. Once and for all.
This feels more like a last ride than the road to freedom…
Hoo-ee folks, Alexander Nader has really delivered again with "Absolution Blues"*! Now that's what I call good old-fashioned, scary AF horror! Not that complex per se I guess - and it never has to be if done right! - but damned effective no matter how you look at it! I haven't had an honest-to-the-gods, no mutant kids, no enraged demons, tummy-rumbler scare like that in a while! Feels good to get the ticker beating that way again! And here I was only just starting to feel a sense of normality after the mind-f**k that was his last book "Influenca" (y'all need to read that one, too, btw!). He registered that one in the "horror satire" column, but "AB" is anything but satire! No, this is the pure stuff and you need to be careful with it for sure!
You seem kind, even if the road hasn’t been kind to you.
I've said it before and I'll say it here again: Nader is an author that seems to really be coming into his own, with imagination and talent in reserve and ready to go! I've enjoyed each of the offers of his I've gotten my hands on with ever-increasing enthusiasm and, yes, impatience for the next releases! He has a smooth-writing style that makes for equally smooth-reading. And I love that extra hint of "Southern-icity" he brings into his books as well (all my folk are Appalachian born and bred, so it's just a question of which side of which valley y'all hail from!).
You ruined my family. This is all your fault.
And in all those ways, this story is certainly no different. Nader starts his tale off with such vivid imagery and it just pulls you in right from the start! From the most horrible situations imaginable to even the mundane settings of a greasy, truck-stop diner or a dilapidated old trailer home, you can't help but feel like you're there with the main players! Feeling what they feel. But all the while witnessing what they may or may not be seeing themselves!
You can lie to them, but you can't lie to me. You know you killed us both.
My only wish is that the story had been ever-so-slightly longer, even though it felt so much fuller as we're obviously spanning a great deal of time and miles in this one! I don't want more pages just to drag things out, no, but it would have MAYBE discouraged me from sitting down and reading it all in one day! Oh well, I had the day off and the house to myself anyway, so no harm done (I'll do the lawn tomorrow, I promise)! It's also just that I think this story deserves more than just one night worth of nightmares! But come to think of it, I'll probably wind up having a few nights worth anyway as just too many of those scenes are going to haunt me for a while! That's what I call great stuff, y'all, so you enjoy, ya hear!
*NOTE: The author provided me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. And long-winded or not, at least I'm honest!
Watch the time. Do not stay too long. Watch the map. It won't matter but at least you'll know where you are. Watch the dates. You are going to be haunted for twenty years. Every day. Every hour. Remember to breathe, remember to keep moving. No matter how tired you are. No matter the pain you feel. He will never leave you alone. Not until everything is finished. Not until everything has been squared. Not absolution, no. But a final payment. Once and for all.
This feels more like a last ride than the road to freedom…
Hoo-ee folks, Alexander Nader has really delivered again with "Absolution Blues"*! Now that's what I call good old-fashioned, scary AF horror! Not that complex per se I guess - and it never has to be if done right! - but damned effective no matter how you look at it! I haven't had an honest-to-the-gods, no mutant kids, no enraged demons, tummy-rumbler scare like that in a while! Feels good to get the ticker beating that way again! And here I was only just starting to feel a sense of normality after the mind-f**k that was his last book "Influenca" (y'all need to read that one, too, btw!). He registered that one in the "horror satire" column, but "AB" is anything but satire! No, this is the pure stuff and you need to be careful with it for sure!
You seem kind, even if the road hasn’t been kind to you.
I've said it before and I'll say it here again: Nader is an author that seems to really be coming into his own, with imagination and talent in reserve and ready to go! I've enjoyed each of the offers of his I've gotten my hands on with ever-increasing enthusiasm and, yes, impatience for the next releases! He has a smooth-writing style that makes for equally smooth-reading. And I love that extra hint of "Southern-icity" he brings into his books as well (all my folk are Appalachian born and bred, so it's just a question of which side of which valley y'all hail from!).
You ruined my family. This is all your fault.
And in all those ways, this story is certainly no different. Nader starts his tale off with such vivid imagery and it just pulls you in right from the start! From the most horrible situations imaginable to even the mundane settings of a greasy, truck-stop diner or a dilapidated old trailer home, you can't help but feel like you're there with the main players! Feeling what they feel. But all the while witnessing what they may or may not be seeing themselves!
You can lie to them, but you can't lie to me. You know you killed us both.
My only wish is that the story had been ever-so-slightly longer, even though it felt so much fuller as we're obviously spanning a great deal of time and miles in this one! I don't want more pages just to drag things out, no, but it would have MAYBE discouraged me from sitting down and reading it all in one day! Oh well, I had the day off and the house to myself anyway, so no harm done (I'll do the lawn tomorrow, I promise)! It's also just that I think this story deserves more than just one night worth of nightmares! But come to think of it, I'll probably wind up having a few nights worth anyway as just too many of those scenes are going to haunt me for a while! That's what I call great stuff, y'all, so you enjoy, ya hear!
*NOTE: The author provided me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. And long-winded or not, at least I'm honest!
June 11, 2023
This is my second read of Nader's as I read Dirt Road Home prior. Having thoroughly enjoyed it, I was keen to devour Absolution Blues(A.B.)
Though this read is very different, it was just as binge worthy in its own ways. (Stephen King or Dean Koontz fans will be glad to have found this one.)
A.B. brings us into the nomadic world of Eric, a middle aged loner with a traumatic background who now spends most nights in his car and most days driving mile after mile doing his best to never stay in one place very long. The years have been brutal to Eric and we enter his story when he's waxing a bit lackadaisical, deciding he might just be able to stop running.
However, as most of us do, Eric soon finds he's misjudged the power of his past. This is especially treacherous for him as his is not a figurative past, but a literal one embodied by a violently malevolent ghost by the name of Wade.
A.B. takes us on the wild ride of a night with Eric driving and Wade riding shotgun. This night could offer Eric absolution or the death he's not so much dreading as hoping for after all this time. What Eric can't know is just how many people will have to become collateral damage for him to get either, and we, the reader, are as scared to find out as he is. A.B. will have you turning pages as fast as you can and the twisted close is as satisfying as it gets.
Though this read is very different, it was just as binge worthy in its own ways. (Stephen King or Dean Koontz fans will be glad to have found this one.)
A.B. brings us into the nomadic world of Eric, a middle aged loner with a traumatic background who now spends most nights in his car and most days driving mile after mile doing his best to never stay in one place very long. The years have been brutal to Eric and we enter his story when he's waxing a bit lackadaisical, deciding he might just be able to stop running.
However, as most of us do, Eric soon finds he's misjudged the power of his past. This is especially treacherous for him as his is not a figurative past, but a literal one embodied by a violently malevolent ghost by the name of Wade.
A.B. takes us on the wild ride of a night with Eric driving and Wade riding shotgun. This night could offer Eric absolution or the death he's not so much dreading as hoping for after all this time. What Eric can't know is just how many people will have to become collateral damage for him to get either, and we, the reader, are as scared to find out as he is. A.B. will have you turning pages as fast as you can and the twisted close is as satisfying as it gets.
December 18, 2024
I am an absolute chicken, but I loved this psychological horror/ghost story, Absolution Blues by Alexander Nader. A great story about Eric, a man who is trying to outrun his past and is being pursued by a murderous ghost. If he doesn’t keep moving, the ghost will catch up with him. One of those great books where neither the MC nor the reader knows what’s real and what’s in the character’s head. I read it in one sitting. I read this book because I loved Nader's "Dirt Road Home." These books could not be more different, but the excellent writing and gift for compelling plot are hallmarks of Nader's skill as an author.
July 2, 2023
Very much enjoyed this anti-buddy road trip that's part Baby Driver part It Follows. Reminiscent of Joe Hill, Nader's "ghost with a debt to settle" saga is tight, curious, and at times realistically painful. The characters feel fresh but also like you know them, maybe a cousin's cousin's friend or your mom's co-worker's son, which is nice since it's not a super long book. The author does a good job writing about an apparition where it doesn't matter if you're a believer or not. Great book for lovers of cars, haunts, and roadside diner meatloaf.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews