Mortal Shells

Touch of Pestilence #2

by V.K. Pasanen

On the heels of quarantine and strange deaths, a massacre at the Mender home rocks the once peaceful town of Packer City, Colorado. Ryan Mender and the mysterious Mary DeMure are missing, presumed dead by some, on the run by others. Evidence points to their involvement in a homegrown terrorist conspiracy.

Two Seattle area detectives assigned to Mary’s missing person case race to Colorado in hopes of finding her alive, proving her innocence, and bringing to justice those who kidnapped her. They find more than they bargained for in the mountain town when a paranormal force from its past wreaks havoc. Packer City will never be the same.

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2020

About the author

V. K. lives in the Seattle area with his wife of over 30 years. He has 2 grown children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and 2 dogs―a lab-mix from Corsicana, Texas and a peach poodle from Cheng Du, China. Outside writing, he works as a relief veterinarian. His hobbies include snowboarding, hiking, music, traveling, and reading/listening to variety of genres that vary as much as his eclectic taste in music.

His inspirations included Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Tony Hillerman, Dan Brown, Erik Larson, David Grann and numerous other fiction and non-fiction authors. He loves origin stories and has long been a history buff. Additional inspirations include a history professor whose name has been forgotten and a one-semester professor at Texas A&M University, Pulitzer Prize finalist, H.W. Brands. Concerning writing, his style is a mix of supernatural fantasy, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, and polymythology. While he dislikes comparisons, those that like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Neal Shusterman might also enjoy his novels.