Wraithworks

by Frederick H. Crook

Gary Wraithworth is a websleuth who covers missing persons cases, cold murder cases, stories of the paranormal, and everything in between on his YouTube channel, Wraithworks. At a convention Gary and his wife Tera meet fellow YouTubers, and the Wraithworths agree to feature a series of murders and abductions all perpetrated by the same man. When the elusive assassin's face is exposed all over the Internet, he makes the Wraithworths his next targets. Gary and Tera must run for their lives in this thrilling tale of a bloodthirsty political assassin out to silence them.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 2, 2018

About the author

Born in Chicago, Frederick lives with his wife, Rae and their dachshunds, Moxie, Luke, and Parker. He writes dystopian sci-fi, but has written a ghost story and recently a thriller.

Reviews

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book of this one , it was narrated by one of my favorite true crime,missing person YouTubers. It’s a crime novel about true crime youtubers who discover that a bunch crimes are all connected, and are ultimately committed by one man, and that man comes after them. It was an interesting idea and the proceeds go to good causes. So it gets 👍🏻👍🏻 from me.

[Laurel Heidtman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy action movies or TV shows involving ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events, you’ll love Wraithworks. The main characters are a married couple, Gary and Tera Wraithworth, who have a YouTube channel that focuses on unsolved crimes, primarily abductions, disappearances, and murders. At a convention a man approaches them with videos of some of the crimes they’ve covered, plus others they haven’t but know about. The videos show the same gray-haired man abducting or killing the victims. He tells them there are a group of law enforcement officers, private investigators, and YouTubers who have been working on this for a while. They’ve discovered the hitman is an FBI agent who is backed by a group of wealthy and influential white supremacists.

From the point Tera and Gary decide to get involved until the end of the book, it is nonstop action and thrills. Although the author doesn’t dig deeply into the characters, they’re drawn well enough that they seem like real people, and that’s all that’s needed. This is a plot-driven, rather than character-driven, novel, and it works great as that. If you’re looking for a beach read that will keep you turning pages long past the time you should have reapplied the sunscreen, this is the one.

Note: I tried to rate this 5 stars, but the stars kept disappearing so I'm not sure if it "took." Weird. If my star rating doesn't show, please know I gave it a definite five.

[Steven Witt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frederick Crook’s new book, Wraithworks, is a bit of a departure. Most of Frederick’s novels and short stories are futuristic science/speculative fiction of a dystopian future society on Earth which also include futuristic crime thrillers. His new book is a taut thriller in present time about a couple who are cyber investigators who investigate missing persons, cold cases, and conspiracies via the Internet. Gary Wraithworks, and his wife Tera have their own YouTube show sharing details of their investigations. When Gary receives video of a series of murders with a ‘gray haired man’ videoed with each of the victims and shows them on his Youtube show, his amount of hits skyrockets. Unfortunately this comes to the attention of this gray haired man who is a political assassin for group of rich white supremacists who have their fingers in the FBI. They, and several others who perform similar investigations and who also share these videos soon become the hunted. Frederick’s new book is extremely well written, with an excellent pair of main characters in Gary and Tera. This cyber/mystery thriller is an old fashioned page turner and a book that is hard to put down. The story may make you a little paranoid as it convincingly explores how someone can be hunted through the Web. It is a quick read that everyone should enjoy. I would think there will be more stories in the future for the Wraithworks in addition to Frederick Crook's futuristic tales. This is a welcome addition to his growing list of fine stories.

[Lois Crockett]

Exciting Thriller

Do you watch YouTube? Sure you do, doesn't everyone? Follow the exploits of likeable married YouTubers Gary and Tera Wraithworks as they meet a fellow YouTuber at a conference and the action escalates from broadcasting missing persons cold cases to a conspiracy that's more than just a theory. I enjoyed this character-driven story and hope there's more in store for the Wraithworks. It's a good story and doable in an afternoon at your favorite reading spot.