3:13 AM: A Psychic Suspense Thriller

by Catherine G. Lurid

Have you ever wondered if there are individuals within the government who can predict the future? Where are they, how do they live, and how do they gain insight into what lies ahead... "3:13 AM" will unravel an alternative tale about one of these oracles.El sets off with his colleague Marian to Asia. After a twelve-hour flight from London to Bangkok, their journey leads them through Patong to one of the picturesque islands in the Indian Ocean. Their destination is a point that cannot be found on the world map. Only when you zoom in from a satellite image will you see Koh An—a jungle-covered remnant of lava, the sandy beach of which is only fifty leisurely steps long. It is here that secret agents have been assigned to meet with the mysterious Mr. Lee. By the will of fate, Raymond Lee knows a little more about the world than any of us. And this time his terrible prophecy will make the blood of even the most cold-blooded leaders of the counter-terrorism department run cold. What Mr. Lee saw in his vision is capable of turning life on Earth upside down. But the most terrifying realization is that his predictions have never been wrong.

Unknown Binding

About the author

A London-based author with a Ukrainian grandpa, a Siberian grandma, and a Belarusian dad—basically, my family tree looks like the cast list of a very complicated historical drama.

Back in school, my Literature teacher told me I’d never become “the next Dostoevsky.” Honestly, that was fine—I never dreamed of being Fyodor Mikhailovich anyway. My secret ambition? To be a little more like Stephen King (minus the haunted hotels, hopefully).

My books tend to wander between genres, but there are a few things you can always count on: a pinch of horror, a dash of romance, and a healthy scoop of folklore and history.

I wrote my first detective stories in school—handwritten, stapled together, and passed around like contraband. Later, I flirted with history and even dreamed of archaeology, but my parents reminded me that while digging in the dirt and scribbling in notebooks might enrich my soul, it probably wouldn’t enrich my wallet. So, I became an engineer. (Dostoevsky was one too, so maybe my teacher wasn’t entirely wrong.)

Still, passion is stubborn. Writing always finds its way back. For me, it happened during maternity leave, when I finally had enough time to dive headfirst into storytelling. Do I wish I had started earlier? Sometimes. But my art studies taught me to notice beauty, and my engineering career taught me how to organize chaos—and both skills are priceless when you’re wrangling characters on a page.

Five years ago, I officially started this writing journey. Since then, I’ve been published in both self-publishing and traditional routes, in Belarusian and Russian. Now, I’m translating my earlier novels into English while also writing new ones.

If you’d like to follow along for updates and releases, I’d be grateful.

Welcome to my world—where love holds hands with horror, and folklore whispers just around the corner.

Reviews

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I'm entirely honest, I picked up this book because the cover was beautiful and I went in completely blind which might be why it took me a while to really get into the proverbial swing of things with this one. That being said, once it really got going I could not put it down and at the end I wanted more.

The characters were interesting as was the imagery. There's an underlying sense of tension and anxiety that doesn't let up until the very end which made for a tense and surprisingly quick reading experience.

[Richard Alex Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent read and Catherine definitely has writing talent, but my main criticism is the amount of scene setting and repetitive information about luxurious food, drink, restaurants and standards of living that bring little to the storytelling table. Filler to avoid getting on with the plot.

The world building is quite lovely, though, with its life of luxury around Thailand and other parts of world. Think of this book as an improbable precursor to a James Bond movie with potential for incredible action and dastardly espionage, backstabbing and manic helicopter chases.

The book builds up slowly and then goes into a bananas realm of inexplicable walking dead, world-destroying viruses and a level of WTF implausibility that's hard to grasp. I got confused between dystopia, sci-fi, horror or a post-apocalyptic crime thriller scenario?

If fights hard to get an identity then suddenly loses it by trying to cover too many angles, being so slow on the one hand and suddenly outlandish on the other, with not enough middle ground or solid plot to cover everything.

Secret agents have a magical mind-bending ability to see into the future and predict our ultimate demise, who can even bring down helicopters with their supernatural powers! This confused me even more and I'm adding a superhero Marvel comic identity to my list. Laser eyes next?

And the love interest(s) kind of happened without any eroticism or interesting details. People just get together, right, which felt flat.

3:13 feels like an outlier to a long-running series where you need to invest from the start to find out what happens next, and although I liked chunks of this book, the dangling story threads and coming-soon approach was too commercial and representative of weak storytelling for me.

My advice. Stick to the James Bond romanticism, flesh out the relationships better, reign in the outlandish and simply not-happening scary horror elements, especially the insta-glacier conquering scenes and FBI chases, which were poor, and try to link it all together as a crime thriller with investigative action and suspense.

We don't need to be informed about wine quaffing every other sentence either.

Three encouraging stars for effort.

[Jessica Dawn Birks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

This seriously kept me gripped. This book is perfect for late teens as well as adults with a penchant for the occult and a good mystery. Fab!

[Ginger Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Real Page-Turner if You Believe in Fortune Tellers

I picked up "3:13 AM" out of curiosity, thinking it might be an intriguing thriller. After all, who doesn't love a story about government psychics and apocalyptic visions, right?

Well, let me tell you, this book is a rollercoaster ride of conspiracy theories and supernatural predictions that will leave you questioning... a lot of things.

El and Marian, our fearless protagonists, embark on a journey that takes them from London to Bangkok and then to a remote island with a name that's basically a game of hide-and-seek on Google Maps. Apparently, the fate of the world hangs in the balance here, and I can assure you, the sandy beach being only fifty steps long is the least of their worries.

Enter Mr. Lee, the all-knowing seer with a penchant for predicting the future with pinpoint accuracy. You'd think having such a gift would make him the life of the party, but nope, he's busy delivering doomsday prophecies that could make even the most hardcore conspiracy theorists blush.

And here's the kicker: Mr. Lee has never been wrong. I mean, come on! If I could predict the future, I'd at least predict the winning lottery numbers once in a while.

In all seriousness, "3:13 AM" is one of those books that will keep you turning pages, not because you believe every twist and turn, but because you're just dying to see how far down the rabbit hole it goes. So, if you're in the mood for a paranormal thriller that will have you questioning the government, the supernatural, and your own sanity, give it a shot. Just don't blame me when you start side-eyeing your neighbor's cat for signs of psychic abilities.

[Zafar hasnain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping

3:13 AM is a riveting journey that blends supernatural with thriller. What really sets this book apart is non-linear narrative. The unique storytelling approach keeps you on the edge. Also the setting of the story on a isolated island that doesn’t appear on regular maps makes you feel part of a secret that only few know. This book will keep you captivated until the very last page.

[Paul Leverell · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

This book is a tense and imaginative story that is based around a thought provoking concept. It is well written and enjoyable.

[Beverley Turnquest · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

This was enjoyable and the story held my attention. Usually a book of this length would not but this did. The storyline was well developed.

[Elrica Francisca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suspenseful thriller

This book was suspenseful from the beginning to the end. It is well written and a must read if you love thrillers.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good

That book sucked me in I thought it was gonna have a different ending..not bad for a horror/thriller type book

[Feather Chelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page turner

I was enthralled from the first word to the last. It’s been a while since I read a book that I literally struggled to put down. It was full of suspense, intrigue, horror, mystery, and so much more. The author has a stunning ability to make the most unrealistic things feel possible. I highly recommend this read for horror enthusiasts, or anyone who enjoys a good sci-fi thriller.

[Leslie Felger · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve ever lain awake at night wondering whether there are people within the walls of government who can truly see the future, then Catherine G. Lurid’s 3:13 AM will hit you like a jolt of electric insight. Blending espionage with mysticism and psychic suspense, this novel delivers a sleek, slow-burning thriller that creeps under your skin and makes you question what lies just beneath the surface of world affairs.

The novel opens with El, a sharp yet enigmatic protagonist whose calm professionalism hides the tension constantly simmering beneath the surface. He's a seasoned agent working in intelligence, used to obscure missions and secrets wrapped in government silence. When he and his partner Marian are tasked with traveling to Asia to meet the elusive Mr. Lee, the story immediately takes on an otherworldly edge. It’s not just a job. It’s a descent into something much more profound and much more dangerous.

Their journey, described with cinematic clarity, transports us from the modern hum of London to the feverish vibrancy of Bangkok and then to Patong, eventually landing on Koh An, an unmarked speck of land in the Indian Ocean. Lurid paints these settings with a richly atmospheric brush the heat, the scent of ocean, the hush of thick jungle making you feel like you’re right there, brushing away mosquitoes and trying to keep your balance on sun baked sand.

Koh An is no ordinary island, and Mr. Lee is no ordinary man. His ability to foresee global catastrophes with disturbing precision is the novel’s lynchpin. Raymond Lee is a fascinating character an oracle with burdens rather than blessings, delivering visions that are more doom than guidance. The way Lurid writes him is striking: he is composed and chilling, a man whose every word feels as though it carries the weight of the future.

And here lies the tension that propels the novel forward: Mr. Lee’s newest prophecy is unlike anything the intelligence world has encountered before. It’s not a mere terrorist plot or a political uprising it’s an existential threat, something that strikes at the very nature of what it means to be human and alive on Earth. The gravity of his vision shakes even the most steely counter terrorism agents, and as readers, we’re pulled into this emotional and moral unraveling.

What’s especially compelling about 3:13 AM is its pace. It doesn’t rush. Lurid allows the suspense to build layer by layer never explosive, but always smoldering. You’re not being thrown from one twist to another; instead, you're being led deeper into a rabbit hole of uncertainty and quiet dread. The psychological weight of the story creeps up on you. You can feel the paranoia mounting with every page turned, the line between prophetic insight and manipulation blurring until you no longer know who or what to believe.

El and Marian’s dynamic also grounds the narrative. Their chemistry is not romanticized or exaggerated, but rather deeply professional and emotionally nuanced. They’ve clearly worked together for years, and the trust between them is quietly powerful. Marian, in particular, brings a welcome sharpness to the narrative a mixture of intellect, skepticism, and subtle humor that balances out El’s stoicism.

One of Lurid’s strengths lies in her ability to blend the metaphysical with the political. The concept of psychic operatives within intelligence agencies could have easily turned into something cartoonish or absurd. But here, it's handled with restraint and a strangely credible realism. Mr. Lee doesn’t feel like a sci-fi gimmick; he feels like someone who could exist quietly, somewhere on the edge of reality, whispering about what comes next.

There are moments where the story leans a little too heavily on exposition, particularly in the middle stretch. Some conversations veer into almost lecture like territory, with detailed breakdowns of visions, probabilities, and the philosophical implications of knowing the future. While intellectually stimulating, it slightly disrupts the pacing. Readers who crave relentless action might find themselves itching for a jolt of adrenaline that comes just a beat later than expected.

But that’s a minor tradeoff for a novel that delivers so much in mood, concept, and tone. The final third of the book brings everything to a simmering boil. Lurid never quite spells out every detail of Mr. Lee’s vision, and that ambiguity works to the story’s benefit it forces us to reflect, to consider what kinds of truths we’d rather not know. The climax is quiet, unsettling, and thought provoking, choosing introspection over spectacle. And honestly, it works.

3:13 AM is not your standard thriller. It’s eerie, cerebral, and deeply atmospheric, asking big questions about knowledge, power, and the price of foresight. Catherine G. Lurid has crafted a story that feels part le Carré, part Philip K. Dick, with echoes of The Man Who Knew Too Much tangled with Minority Report.

For readers who enjoy thrillers that challenge the mind as much as the pulse this book is a rewarding, memorable experience. And while it ends with a resolution of sorts, it also leaves a lingering unease, as if Mr. Lee’s final vision hasn’t fully played out yet. And may still be watching us from the shadows.

Final verdict: A moody, intelligent thriller that questions reality and destiny highly recommended for fans of slow burn suspense with a philosophical edge.

[Hannah-Louise Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly thrilling and I loved the descriptive details

[Melanie Little · Rating 1 out of 5]

The way this book was written, it was very difficult for me to read for the first half. The best part of this book was the last 50 pages.