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Black Bird

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Jack Terrington has an aptitude for getting away with murder—he’s been doing it for almost twenty years. He’s a drifter, leaving a trail of fear and death from coast to coast. Although he has always successfully avoided capture, he is haunted by the memory of the Sheriff of Liberty, Virginia. The man died nearly catching Jack—in fact, it was only by dumb luck that Jack had escaped. And that’s always bothered him. Now, he’s returning to the small town to settle the score. In Liberty, David Beaumont can’t wait to leave his small hometown. He’s grown so tired of listening to the endless stories about what a great man his father had been, how he had saved their town from a killer, sacrificing his own life to save them. David’s got his money together, he’s quit his job, and he’s leaving town. He’s leaving it all behind him. The only problem is the killings have started again…and David’s the only one that can stop them. Should he return to the small town he despises? And if he does, will he end up the way his father did—dead?

522 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

106 people are currently reading
126 people want to read

About the author

Greg Enslen

34 books68 followers
Greg Enslen is an Ohio author of twenty-seven books, including four books in the “Frank Harper Mysteries” series and three other novels. He also writes original screenplays and guides for popular TV shows such as “Game of Thrones” and “Mr. Robot.” His books are available from major retailers and on his Amazon Author Page at http://bit.ly/geauthor.

Greg lives in southern Ohio with his wife, three children, three dogs and an indeterminate number of cats. His interests include travel, reading, film and television, and yelling at various sports franchises. Greg enjoys writing late at night, after everyone else has finally trudged off to bed and the house is quiet. For more information, visit his website at gregenslen.com or check out his Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/gregenslenswriting.

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Community Reviews

5 stars
73 (40%)
4 stars
58 (32%)
3 stars
23 (12%)
2 stars
19 (10%)
1 star
8 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Dava.
29 reviews
December 31, 2014
This was one of the most maddening books I've ever read. The story was great - very tense and descriptive - however I have never read a book with more mistakes in it in my life! Missing words, misspelled words, misused words - sheesh! Can someone please get this guy an editor? I still think it's worth the read, but be forewarned.
Profile Image for Lynda Kelly.
2,213 reviews110 followers
April 30, 2013
Oh dear. The 2 mistakes in the dedication alone should really have tipped me off to the fact that this has not had a proper edit. Or, if it has then the author needs a refund pronto. I've only made it 13% in and encountered so many mistakes I've packed it in. It loses words all the time like a or had, it has misplaced apostrophes, lost capital letters, omitted fullstops. Futiley was replaced by futility, lightning became lightening......just an utter mess. Sentences were randomly added in, probably a formatting error ? The final straw for me was "waiving on" which was meant to be waving one as far as I could make out....
A bloody shame as the story itself sounded really intriguing, albeit with a touch of the Omen about it !! However, my time is precious to me and I am not prepared to plough through this in the state it is.
Profile Image for Jill.
31 reviews1 follower
September 14, 2015
Interesting Story of Two Decades of Terror and Revenge

"Jack Terrington killed 33 people in Los Angeles in just under four years, and only fourteen of those ever even made it into the papers.  Evidently, crimes in Los Angeles had to be particularly gruesome to make the papers. "

This thriller spans two decades of terror and two generations of victims. After a small town Sheriff comes close to catching him, years later this killer returns to Liberty to track down the Sheriff's son in a festering need for revenge.

Good read but very long.
Profile Image for Clyde Murphy.
22 reviews9 followers
November 18, 2016
One of the better "free" kindle books I've read. Mr Enlen is an excellent writer, but he needs to fire his editor.
Profile Image for Gail.
4 reviews
September 9, 2020
I found the book very predictable but also a good read .
At first I found the weather station business confusing to the story and wonder if if it
was really necessary for the depth of the book.
The using of he birds for "souls" was great. Including the specific characteristics of
one in particular , which is what correlates it the story.
I like my reading to be "mindless entertainment" and I do NOT mean that in a bad way.
I enjoyed the book
I usually have 2 0r 3 books going at once and I am just getting back into reading on my Kindles.
I will be reading more of Mr. Enslen's books.
582 reviews4 followers
December 23, 2021
David never knew his mom or dad. He was raised by his aunt, who loved to drink. He was in a dead end job and had decided to leave town and visit a friend in Los Angeles, despite his girlfriend loving him. A serial killer was trying to decide if he should revisit one of his crime scenes and add more notches on his belt. You wont believe what happens next.
I found this a little rough and a little long, but it was an interesting read, and I enjoyed it.
455 reviews2 followers
January 13, 2020
This book by Greg Enslen was a great read and I really enjoyed it. It is a little long but never boring so you should give it a chance. There are a group of people in the book and he covers all their stories. They end up working for the same outcome so you never get tired of reading about just one person. I would highly recommend it if you like good books.
24 reviews
April 10, 2021
A good read

Would have been 5 stars but apart from the title I saw no relevance to birds threaded through the story. They seemed to show up a pivotal moments but didn't seem to have much point to them being there.
The story itself was gripping and I especially enjoyed the emotional aspects between David and his father.
Profile Image for Alan Buckley.
22 reviews
August 1, 2017
I thought this book was excellent. A really enjoyable read. A very long book but it kept your attention and the characters were very believable. I like this author. I like his writing style. I have read most of his books and will continue to do so.
1,471 reviews7 followers
January 6, 2023
Great serial killer thriller

This story kept you on your toes until the end. The main character Jack was truly a disturbed person. Can't believe he killed that many people. Loved the HEA ending. Great read.
Profile Image for Jo.
6 reviews
January 5, 2020
Loved the book, kept my interest from start to finish!
81 reviews
January 2, 2021
Great book!

Interesting book with many twists and turns. The interesting characters are fun to follow and suspense keeps the pages turning!
Profile Image for Heather Nimal.
61 reviews2 followers
February 13, 2021
Need an editor

The book was good, don't get me wrong, but you really need a good editor. The book was packed with spelling errors.
60 reviews
September 13, 2024
Serial killer legend

I have read a lot of these types of books. This one is a top winner. Nonstop action from beginning to end.

Stephanie
Profile Image for tivasyk.
486 reviews18 followers
April 8, 2013
мусив покинути, заледве подужавши 10% чи 15%… котрі не містили нічого, анічогісінько цікавішого за третьосортний трилер з голівудського конвейєра. треба бути людиною якогось особливого штибу, аби насолоджуватися детальною оповіддю про безцільну жорстокість убивці, якого автор перетворив на головного персонажа — отак, неначе дивишся той самий трилер… і чекати шаблонної «розв’язки», себто помсти картонного «героя» наприкінці?

покинув після ось цього фрагменту — просто не було сил «мучити» далі цю писанину:

«One of the reasons he had broken up with her three weeks ago was the fact that at Big Video, employees and managers were not supposed to date. They weren’t even really supposed to hang out together. It was one of the first rules in the photocopied handbook that every new Big Video employee was given on their first day at the store. David himself had even fired someone for the same exact offense last year. David and Bethany had gone to great lengths to hide the fact that they were dating, and the relationship amazingly had lasted almost ten months, a record for David. But he had gotten very tired of hiding the fact that they were dating, and for that reason and many others, he had broken it off. He’d regretted it an hour later»

шкодую, що знайомство з другим storybundle'ом почалося для мене зі (сподіваюся) найгіршого твору в збірці…
Profile Image for Richard.
28 reviews1 follower
July 13, 2014
It took a while for me to warm to this book, I read the first 20% some months ago before moving onto (many) other books. However, I was recently going through the "unread" in my collection alphabetically and came back to this one.

I didn't start from the beginning again and so some of it didn't make sense (especially the birds) due to forgetting a huge chunk of what had happened but I finally "got into" the book this time and finished it.

I rather enjoyed it, although I confess I didn't "get" the birds until the aftermath (assuming I got what the author intended). Perhaps I'm slow or perhaps it's from the bits I'd forgotten at the start.

So yes, eventually I enjoyed this book and will have a look at some of Greg's other works. Well, once I've cleared the 95 unread books backlog!
Profile Image for Addy.
14 reviews8 followers
February 3, 2015
A taut thriller always feels good when backed by decent research! Though the sloppy editing and the occasional plot hole takes some sheen off the book, the plot and the narration clinch the deal. I was on three and a half stars, but the fact that I got the book on Story Bundle made me round it up!
53 reviews
December 11, 2012
An edge-of-your-seat thriller that pulls no punches in describing the brutality and depravity of its central villain, complete with a poetic ending worthy of Shakespeare.
64 reviews2 followers
August 28, 2015
Good read

The book seemed a little long but it was a good read. Finally I found out what the black bird really wanted.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

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