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Celia
No one heard the gunshots. Just as no one ever heard Celia's screams or those of her children for all these years. But in the isolation of the Florida swamps, Celia has silenced her cruel husband forever. Or so she thought . . . Now, Celia and her three children are on the run. Relying on an underground network of helping families, Celia is heading for northern California and a brand new life. But someone is following Celia. Someone who knows her every secret destination. And who intends to keep his promise ... I'll get you, Celia. You kill me and I'll come back as your worst nightmare.
298 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1991
5 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Ruby Jean Jensen
39 books210 followers
Ruby Jean Jensen
Born McDonald County, Missouri, USA, March 1, 1927
Died November 16, 2010
Website http://www.rubyjeanjensen.com
Twitter RubyJeanJensen1
Facebook www.facebook.com/Rjjhorror
Ruby Jean Jensen authored 30 published and 4 not yet published novels, and over 200 short stories. Her passion for writing developed at an early age, and she worked for many years to develop her writing skills. After having many short stories published, in 1974 the novel The House that Samael Built was accepted for publication. She then quickly established herself as a professional author, with representation by a Literary Agent from New York. She subsequently sold 29 more novels to several New York publishing houses. After four Gothic Romance, three Occult and then three Horror novels, MaMa was published by Zebra books in 1983. With Zebra, Ruby Jean completed nineteen more novels in the Horror genre.
Ruby was involved with creative writing groups for many years, and she often took the time to encourage young authors and to reply to fan mail.
Ruby Jean, a supreme story-teller, quickly captures and holds your attention. Her books, written for adults, are also suitable for adolescents and young adults. She continues to have an enthusiastic following in the Horror genre.
Born McDonald County, Missouri, USA, March 1, 1927
Died November 16, 2010
Website http://www.rubyjeanjensen.com
Twitter RubyJeanJensen1
Facebook www.facebook.com/Rjjhorror
Ruby Jean Jensen authored 30 published and 4 not yet published novels, and over 200 short stories. Her passion for writing developed at an early age, and she worked for many years to develop her writing skills. After having many short stories published, in 1974 the novel The House that Samael Built was accepted for publication. She then quickly established herself as a professional author, with representation by a Literary Agent from New York. She subsequently sold 29 more novels to several New York publishing houses. After four Gothic Romance, three Occult and then three Horror novels, MaMa was published by Zebra books in 1983. With Zebra, Ruby Jean completed nineteen more novels in the Horror genre.
Ruby was involved with creative writing groups for many years, and she often took the time to encourage young authors and to reply to fan mail.
Ruby Jean, a supreme story-teller, quickly captures and holds your attention. Her books, written for adults, are also suitable for adolescents and young adults. She continues to have an enthusiastic following in the Horror genre.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 6, 2015
I love anything by Ruby Jean Jensen. This book was even autographed. Though the author has passed away, her legacy of being the Queen of horror novels lives on! Mostly her books are about dolls or toys coming back to life or evil and strange children doing ugly things. Loved this book and all the others.
January 27, 2016
Durk Nolan is a cruel specimen of a man. Taking young Celia at an early and naive age, he made her his wife but kept her in a private home deep within the swamps and ruled her by physical fear and mental terror. He abuses his three children, and is beginning to set sights on the daughter Jonie for something a bit MORE physical. His 'job' is taking dogs from peoples houses, strays, etc., and putting them into small dirty cages until he sells them to animal labs for research experiments.
It should be easy to see why Celia and her kids left, and also in reality why they ran into the man again, and finally what forced the young woman to do what she had to do to ensure her and her family's survival. However, Durk wasn't lying when he whispered threats of turning into a monster upon his death, fed from the swamp, all those years.
Pacing is fantastic - from page one it's on. The murder has just taken place and they are already on the run, looking back. It's then non-stop fear, violence, grief, and a tightly woven plot.
Everything flows together smoothly and you have to keep reading to find out which monster will pop up when you switch chapters. The atmosphere is dark, morbid, creepy. The settings of the Swamp especially. (Personal swamp fear here) Every scene is described in enough detail to make you clearly see the place, feel the wind, smell the air.
All characters are superbly developed. We truly believe Durk is the scum of the earth. Celia comes across as sweet and intelligent, just trapped and cut off from the outside world. The fantasies of the children are precious. The main caretaker, Mel, who travels with them to different destinations, has a tear-wrenching secret all his own.
One thing Ruby Jean Jensen always does is put you into the heads of all involved and makes it realistic. We see their own torments and past tortures relevant to the novel. She makes sure you like them, but that doesn't mean their lives are safe. Jensen's style is cold and dark but simple to understand and beautifully worded. Ruby Jean Jensen is not a "nice author." People who are easily disturbed should NEVER read her books. Within these pages are stories of horrid child abuse and death. Animals being tortured and killed. People you genuinely like getting slaughtered. Desperation, a sense of hopelessness, fear, and anger at all the predators of the world.
I would never call this a "light" read. Her books never are; I have read a few of them. Don't go into this one expecting a sense of peace or easy enjoyment -- because you won't get it. I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion involving another character explored. Unfortunately her books are now harder to find and I was lucky enough to snatch up some out of print ones over the year. I don't know what happened to her but will have to look it up. She is indeed one of the most morbid authors ever, especially in other novels I've devoured.
Read with one eye on the book and the other on the evening news.
It should be easy to see why Celia and her kids left, and also in reality why they ran into the man again, and finally what forced the young woman to do what she had to do to ensure her and her family's survival. However, Durk wasn't lying when he whispered threats of turning into a monster upon his death, fed from the swamp, all those years.
Pacing is fantastic - from page one it's on. The murder has just taken place and they are already on the run, looking back. It's then non-stop fear, violence, grief, and a tightly woven plot.
Everything flows together smoothly and you have to keep reading to find out which monster will pop up when you switch chapters. The atmosphere is dark, morbid, creepy. The settings of the Swamp especially. (Personal swamp fear here) Every scene is described in enough detail to make you clearly see the place, feel the wind, smell the air.
All characters are superbly developed. We truly believe Durk is the scum of the earth. Celia comes across as sweet and intelligent, just trapped and cut off from the outside world. The fantasies of the children are precious. The main caretaker, Mel, who travels with them to different destinations, has a tear-wrenching secret all his own.
One thing Ruby Jean Jensen always does is put you into the heads of all involved and makes it realistic. We see their own torments and past tortures relevant to the novel. She makes sure you like them, but that doesn't mean their lives are safe. Jensen's style is cold and dark but simple to understand and beautifully worded. Ruby Jean Jensen is not a "nice author." People who are easily disturbed should NEVER read her books. Within these pages are stories of horrid child abuse and death. Animals being tortured and killed. People you genuinely like getting slaughtered. Desperation, a sense of hopelessness, fear, and anger at all the predators of the world.
I would never call this a "light" read. Her books never are; I have read a few of them. Don't go into this one expecting a sense of peace or easy enjoyment -- because you won't get it. I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion involving another character explored. Unfortunately her books are now harder to find and I was lucky enough to snatch up some out of print ones over the year. I don't know what happened to her but will have to look it up. She is indeed one of the most morbid authors ever, especially in other novels I've devoured.
Read with one eye on the book and the other on the evening news.
April 8, 2022
NOT your supernatural and scary dolls type that Ruby Jean Jensen usually delivers.....but it was still a suspenseful ride, though it takes a LONG time to get there. Still recommended.
This book took me 3, yes; THREE weeks to finish it, and though it was NOT her usual fast and extrememly easy to get into books of old, it was a mean and slow burn tale of an abused wife, mother and her kids that at sometimes was hard to read. WARNINGS: Murder and drownings galore of family pets! So, if that is a severe trigger for you do NOT read this one. Plus do NOT be fooled by the 'Creepy Doll' on the front cover......it has nothing to do with this suspense thriller, except it was thrown out of the car by this horrible father! Would recommend it to suspense and thriller readers and fans. Not really what I would call horror.
3 🩸🩸🩸
This book took me 3, yes; THREE weeks to finish it, and though it was NOT her usual fast and extrememly easy to get into books of old, it was a mean and slow burn tale of an abused wife, mother and her kids that at sometimes was hard to read. WARNINGS: Murder and drownings galore of family pets! So, if that is a severe trigger for you do NOT read this one. Plus do NOT be fooled by the 'Creepy Doll' on the front cover......it has nothing to do with this suspense thriller, except it was thrown out of the car by this horrible father! Would recommend it to suspense and thriller readers and fans. Not really what I would call horror.
3 🩸🩸🩸
September 11, 2011
This book scared the crap out of me! My one disappointment about this book is that it is more horror than psychological thriller but it’s still a good one! The story is set around Celia, a battered wife with three children. Celia is running from her abusive husband with the help of the underground railroad system for battered wives and children. But, someone or something is following Celia and her children. Make sure to read this one with the lights on!!
January 7, 2023
I’ll get you, Ceil. You kill me, I’ll come back as your worst nightmare and I’ll get you, and I’ll get your brats. You can't kill me, Ceil. It just don’t work that way. I’ll get you... I’ll get you, Ceil ... your worst nightmare ... me ... your worst ... nightmare.
She was a damaged woman, her life pried from her fingertips with a lifetime of abuse. At merely sixteen years old she ran away from the alcoholic mother and the new faces of every stepfather she ever had. Taking a few possessions along in a weather paper sack, Celia saw the darker sides of humanity from a child's innocent eyes. One night alone at a park bench, she ran to the only stranger who looked safe, Durk Nolan to avoid her kidnapping from a group of men who looked over her young beauty. Making them believe he was her father, she ran to her "daddy" and slowly became smitten with a man double her age. Showing her kindness and a gentleness she never experienced before, he set her up with a room to sleep and a job at a local diner. He was slowly becoming her entire world as she was more and more falling for the troubled man. Convincing her to leave the job far behind and move into the woods in Florida where he resided was easier said than done. At sixteen he married the young girl and took her to his house where her life would shatter. Haunted by the cries and the howling of abused dogs, she learned the hard way what disobedience would gain her. Stealing beloved family pets as well as strays from the streets, Durk would sell them to laboratories to be tested on or simy strangle them to death before throwing their bodies to the swamp. Within a few years into their abusive marriage she welcomed children Jonie (11 years old, female), Blaire (9 years old, male) and Drew (5 years old, male) to the cycle of horrors. Isolated from the rest of the world with no other family but each other, he abused mother and children alike, until Jonie began to grow up. Taking a sick and sexual fascination to his own daughter, was what drove Celia to the unthinkable. After walking in on his raping their daughter, she took him at gunpoint to the swamp before something unimaginable happened. Flint, the Doberman he bought her for company leaped from the waters edge and attacked. Yet Flint has been dead for over a month now, so what really was the shadowy apparition who tore Durk's throat out?
"You don’t understand. Durk isn’t like other people ... He can do things other people can’t do. He’s out there. He knows where we are. He’s following. He knows where we’re going. He’ll always follow.” She sat back. “Until he finds us.”
Working for the Underground Railroad in modern days isn't what youre expecting. It's hiding and transporting fearful, abused and guarded adults and children from their abusers into salvation. This is what Norma, a lawyer does with her extra money. She helps in the funding to keep these poor souls from a harmful and devasting path. Together with families scattered all across the continental United States and drivers using maps and codes, it's what freedom truly looks like. Mel, a retired police officer and still feeling the grief of the loss of his thirteen year old daughter Crescent spends his time driving these survivors cross country. Losing his daughter to a drug overdose after the law failed her horribly from the rapes and abuse of her stepfather. As he's along with Celia and her children, he feels his heartstrings softening and begins thinking of them as his own. Yet even with Durk dead and gone the fear evident in their eyes is a constant reminder haunted by his words of always watching, always tracking, always finding, Celia sees the inky monstrosity from the waters as it trails behind every step of the way. After countless people are murdered by strangulation, it's time for the final showdown in an unexpected place. Mel's house. Taking the family back to his sanctuary in Georgia he never expected his life to experience Durk and his controlling rage. With his dogs laying slaughtered, Celia and her children see the shadowy monster he was. After Mel watches in stunned horror as Flint once again mauls the creature to the ground, he finishes the job with a few bullets of his own. Now, the thought of the losing those children or Celia is too much to bare, so he welcomes them with open arms to the first home with love they ever experienced.
Well, no more. It would happen no more. The bruises were fading now. But not the fear, never the fear.
She was a damaged woman, her life pried from her fingertips with a lifetime of abuse. At merely sixteen years old she ran away from the alcoholic mother and the new faces of every stepfather she ever had. Taking a few possessions along in a weather paper sack, Celia saw the darker sides of humanity from a child's innocent eyes. One night alone at a park bench, she ran to the only stranger who looked safe, Durk Nolan to avoid her kidnapping from a group of men who looked over her young beauty. Making them believe he was her father, she ran to her "daddy" and slowly became smitten with a man double her age. Showing her kindness and a gentleness she never experienced before, he set her up with a room to sleep and a job at a local diner. He was slowly becoming her entire world as she was more and more falling for the troubled man. Convincing her to leave the job far behind and move into the woods in Florida where he resided was easier said than done. At sixteen he married the young girl and took her to his house where her life would shatter. Haunted by the cries and the howling of abused dogs, she learned the hard way what disobedience would gain her. Stealing beloved family pets as well as strays from the streets, Durk would sell them to laboratories to be tested on or simy strangle them to death before throwing their bodies to the swamp. Within a few years into their abusive marriage she welcomed children Jonie (11 years old, female), Blaire (9 years old, male) and Drew (5 years old, male) to the cycle of horrors. Isolated from the rest of the world with no other family but each other, he abused mother and children alike, until Jonie began to grow up. Taking a sick and sexual fascination to his own daughter, was what drove Celia to the unthinkable. After walking in on his raping their daughter, she took him at gunpoint to the swamp before something unimaginable happened. Flint, the Doberman he bought her for company leaped from the waters edge and attacked. Yet Flint has been dead for over a month now, so what really was the shadowy apparition who tore Durk's throat out?
"You don’t understand. Durk isn’t like other people ... He can do things other people can’t do. He’s out there. He knows where we are. He’s following. He knows where we’re going. He’ll always follow.” She sat back. “Until he finds us.”
Working for the Underground Railroad in modern days isn't what youre expecting. It's hiding and transporting fearful, abused and guarded adults and children from their abusers into salvation. This is what Norma, a lawyer does with her extra money. She helps in the funding to keep these poor souls from a harmful and devasting path. Together with families scattered all across the continental United States and drivers using maps and codes, it's what freedom truly looks like. Mel, a retired police officer and still feeling the grief of the loss of his thirteen year old daughter Crescent spends his time driving these survivors cross country. Losing his daughter to a drug overdose after the law failed her horribly from the rapes and abuse of her stepfather. As he's along with Celia and her children, he feels his heartstrings softening and begins thinking of them as his own. Yet even with Durk dead and gone the fear evident in their eyes is a constant reminder haunted by his words of always watching, always tracking, always finding, Celia sees the inky monstrosity from the waters as it trails behind every step of the way. After countless people are murdered by strangulation, it's time for the final showdown in an unexpected place. Mel's house. Taking the family back to his sanctuary in Georgia he never expected his life to experience Durk and his controlling rage. With his dogs laying slaughtered, Celia and her children see the shadowy monster he was. After Mel watches in stunned horror as Flint once again mauls the creature to the ground, he finishes the job with a few bullets of his own. Now, the thought of the losing those children or Celia is too much to bare, so he welcomes them with open arms to the first home with love they ever experienced.
Well, no more. It would happen no more. The bruises were fading now. But not the fear, never the fear.
September 22, 2019
Celia was tired of being fearful and was driven to protect her children from the monster that her husband had become. But she was totally isolated in the swamp, and had few resources to turn to. She finally connected with some friends that might help her, then she took matters into her own hands. On the run ... on the run ... and not seeming to be able to put any distance between her family and the evil that seemed to stalk them. A great story from Ruby Jean that has parallels in many current stories of spousal abuse - with a supernatural twist!
April 29, 2024
A different type of story from RJJ. The only other non-Doll novel I've read from her has been The Lake. I found Celia to be much better than that one. It is more of a slow burn with a lot of traveling between locations until the inevitable climax. The deaths in this story hit hard, imo, I think due to the nature of the plot and why their paths intertwined with the main family.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews