Blown Away

Emily Thompson Mystery #1

by Shane Gericke

A serial killer is playing a deadly game.
There are no rules except one:
The killer always wins.
The loser always dies.

Since joining the force, rookie cop Emily Thompson has had one ambition: to work homicide. Now she's got her chance. A twisted sociopath is turning her safe Chicago suburb into a brutal killing field, and every single one of his grisly clues leads directly to Emily. In 72 hours, on her fortieth birthday, he intends to make her his greatest trophy. If she doesn't stop him before then, Emily's first case will be her last.

In a city gripped by terror, and with little more to go on than her instincts, Emily must match wits with a madman bent on chilling revenge. It is an investigation that will lead her into a nightmare world of unimaginable crimes, the dark secrets of her own past--and to a final shocking discovery. . . "Real cops, terrific action, a twisted plot and a tough-gal detective who makes it all happen. More please!" --Roy Huntington, American Cop magazine

"Blown Away tightens the plot around detective Emily Thompson like a terrifying noose." --Thomas Frisbie, author of Victims of Justice

Shane Gericke is a former deputy financial editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. Winner of a dozen awards and Who's Who in America citations for his writing and design work, Gericke is a popular speaker at national conferences and community groups. Blown Away is his debut suspense thriller. He's also a writer and photographer for national magazines, a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Society of Midland Authors, and lives in Naperville, Illinois, with his wife, Jerrle.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Fiction, Ebooks

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2002

About the author

Bestselling author Shane Gericke has been held at knifepoint, hit by lightning, and shaken the cold sweaty hand of Liberace. He was born to write thriller novels!

His latest is The Fury, a sweeping novel of global terrorism that’s endorsed by such literary superstars as Steve Berry and David Morrell, the creator of Rambo. The Fury is published by Tantor Media in trade paperback print, eBook, and audiobook. Shane’s bestselling crime trilogy—Torn Apart, Cut to the Bone, and Blown Away—is being re-released with a jazzy new look by Mandevilla Press (trade paperback print) and New Word City Publishing (eBooks).

Torn Apart was shortlisted for the prestigious Thriller Award for Best Novel, and named a Book of the Year by Suspense magazine. His debut novel, Blown Away, was selected as the year’s Best First Mystery by RT Book Reviews, which also named his Cut to the Bone a Top Pick. Shane is a No. 1 Kindle bestseller, a national bestseller in print, and his books have been translated into German, Chinese, Turkish, and Slovak, allowing him to correspond with readers around the world. Yes, he has the fan photos to prove it.

Shane, whose last name is improbably pronounced YER-kee, spent two decades as a newspaper editor, most prominently at the Chicago Sun-Times, before turning to fiction. He keeps his hand in nonfiction by writing for digital media.

An original member of International Thriller Writers, he was chairman of the ThrillerFest literary festival in New York City and founding director of its agent-author matching program, PitchFest. He’s judged the Edgar, Thriller, MWA, and St. Martin’s awards, and belongs to Mystery Writers of America and the Society of Midland Authors.

He lives in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, the home of world-famous detective Dick Tracy, with whom Shane shares no resemblance except steely jaw and manly visage. Please visit him at www.shanegericke.com, www.thefurybook.com, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Goodreads.


Series:
* Emily Thompson Mystery

Reviews

[Jeannie Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rookie Cop Emily Thompson has accomplished her ambition. She has become a homicide detective and has the opportunity to investigate and hopefully catch a brutal murderer. I am not sure if the murderer she is after is a sociopath or psychopath - but this serial killer madman takes the life of his victims in a grisly way. As I turned the pages - it becomes apparent that Emily may be the trophy kill that the killer is planning to murder.
Being a crime victim myself, I hope you check out this novel and find out about the deadly games that this sadistic, lunatic killer is playing.
"Blown Away" is a fiction, but unfortunately there are psychos roaming cities and towns that are just like this. I hope none of you ever have to playing a deadly game like the one portrayed in this fable. Be careful and watch your back, my dear friends - you are too valuable for anything other than good things to happen to you.

Jeannie Walker - Award Winning Author - "Fighting the Devil" - A True Story of Consuming Passion, Deadly Poison, and Murder

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. 5 stars . Emily Thompson sure had her hands full with this case. Very personal indeed. Well written.

[Lucia Bartkova · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uf... hardcore: celé zle od prednej obálky až po zadnú, vrátane všetkého medzi tým 🤣

[Cecile Arquette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable plot, stereotypes, yuck. Decided not to finish-there are so many good books out there to read!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brady and Emily grew up on the Southwest Side of Chicago. Both are only children; while Emily’s family is kind and nurturing, Brady’s family is extremely dysfunctional led by a dad who physically abuses both Brady and his mom. His mother chooses to ignore the damage that the abuse is inflicting on her son. As Brady presents the three classic signs of a serial killer, his deluded mind blames Emily for his family’s demise and his cruel actions. Coupled with his insanity and madness, he never forgives Emily for not including him in her tenth birthday ‘game day’ party. He pays her back with ‘birthday presents’ for each of her significant birthdays, leaving clues with these gruesome presents that correspond to her favorite childhood board games. It is through these birthday presents that this serial killer makes his deadly mark. Even though readers know from the onset who the serial killer is, we don’t know when or where he will strike, or what persona he will take on. Rookie cop Emily now lives and works in Naperville, IL. Using an hourly countdown to Emily’s 40th birthday, the sequential clues are obvious to Emily and her co-workers, the Naperville Police Department, but do they make sense of them before it is too late? The book has plenty of references to sites in Naperville, which makes the story come to life for residents of Chicago’s western suburbs. A fast-paced, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-chair thriller, you will not be able to put it down. Be prepared to stay up all night, because if the race to the end doesn’t get you, the images of cruel torture inflicted by Brady will haunt your dreams.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brady and Emily grew up on the Southwest Side of Chicago. Both are only children; while Emily’s family is kind and nurturing, Brady’s family is extremely dysfunctional led by a dad who physically abuses both Brady and his mom. His mother chooses to ignore the damage that the abuse is inflicting on her son. As Brady presents the three classic signs of a serial killer, his deluded mind blames Emily for his family’s demise and his cruel actions. Coupled with his insanity and madness, he never forgives Emily for not including him in her tenth birthday ‘game day’ party. He pays her back with ‘birthday presents’ for each of her significant birthdays, leaving clues with these gruesome presents that correspond to her favorite childhood board games. It is through these birthday presents that this serial killer makes his deadly mark. Even though readers know from the onset who the serial killer is, we don’t know when or where he will strike, or what persona he will take on. Rookie cop Emily now lives and works in Naperville, IL. Using an hourly countdown to Emily’s 40th birthday, the sequential clues are obvious to Emily and her co-workers, the Naperville Police Department, but do they make sense of them before it is too late? The book has plenty of references to sites in Naperville, which makes the story come to life for residents of Chicago’s western suburbs. A fast-paced, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-chair thriller, you will not be able to put it down. Be prepared to stay up all night, because if the race to the end doesn’t get you, the images of cruel torture inflicted by Brady will haunt your dreams

[MB · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for good plotting and outstanding pacing. The ticking clock keeps the reader glued to the page. The past/present jumps were handled well, and necessary to the story. The flashback were done so well, not overly long, really gave more and more insight into what was happening in the present.

Believability? Not so much. Some plot points were just glossed over too fast. I couldn't believe the police would jump to the conclusion of "serial killer" quite so fast. And the only solution they ever came up with was the exact right one, to problems large and small.

The identity of the killer was broadcast so loudly and clearly to the reader that I lost faith in the investigators for not picking up on it.

For me, the romance element was all soft and soapy and gooshy. Again, stetched credibility past the breaking point for me.

But, the tight pacing kept me reading the book till the end.

[Kat, lover of bears... · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is one of my favorite genres and was written well. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I wanted to read it at every free moment. I read it going to sleep, if I woke in the middle of the night, and when I woke up early. It was very engaging and suspenseful.

The only minor problem I had was probably due to the fact I read it on my Kindle. I did not always notice when we switched from one set of characters to the other. Kindle editions are notorious for this so once I became aware of it, I didn't get frustrated.

The best thrillers are the ones that are completely plausible and this one was very creepily plausible. It is part of a series but also a standalone book. I am eager to read the other two books in the series after my brief respite to something less intense.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this very much. It is very fast paced, and kept my interest from the start.

I started this while waiting for a dentist appointment, and finished the next day upon getting home from work.

Kept me guessing up to the last few chapters.

This was a good surprise, as I have never read anything by this author before. It just looked interesting when I was looking on amazon.com for a free book to download to my Kindle Touch.

Will be reading more of this author's work, for sure.

****

I am including a link to the author's website, for information about him and his other works: http://www.shanegericke.com/ .

****

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Crime suspense drama. I don't know why. I was blown away by Blown Away. I am not sure where I got this book. I thought it was a free Nook Book but I can't find it as a Nook book on Barnes and Nobel site so I am going to say I got it somewhere else.

I loved this book from the moment I picked it up until the very last sentence. I will admit there were a couple of places where I was wondering what exactly was going on but for the most part it flowed nicely. The characters were well developed. And the suspense lasted right up until the last moment. I did figure out towards the end who the killer was....but sorry I won't tell. You'll just have to read it yourself.

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

if you like reading, skip this book. there's little to enjoy here.

basically, Emily has been targeted by a serial killer. the narrative kept bouncing back and forth between present day and the Emily's childhood - because the reason behind all of the murders is linked to way back then.

the killer is a bed-wetting little boy, a victim of child-abuse (very detailed child-abuse), a killer of animals and a setter of fires - who grows up to become a monster.

predictable, not enjoyable, dark, and nightmarish. bleh

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emily Thompson is a rookie Chicago cop with good instincts and major attitude. Emily is targeted by a serial killer who is killing people based on a set of board games her family played when she was a child. This is Shane Gericke's first novel and while it shows a lot of promise it just fell short. The plot was too far fectched but his instincts on the action was right on. The book kept me riveted to the action but the dialog needs a lot of work as well as the basic plot points. I will definitely give this author another try but sadly this book is not one I can recommend.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was lots of action and the book was fast-paced. Unfortunately, the violence went to far for my liking, especially the scenes describing animal torture. At one point, near the end, I almost stopped reading because the scene described was too disturbing.

I also never had a doubt as to the real identity of the killer so the reveal was not at all exciting to me.

Overall, I probably wouldn't read another book by this author.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is definitely an action filled suspense story, very nicely done by shane gericke, and i see that his main character, emily thompson also stars in the next book. we have a serial killer, which this homiidice rookie gets to track down, along with the rest of the people in the squad. there is a method in the killer's madness, which emily figures out.

[Corky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome thriller! New author for me, debut novel. In addition to the plot and characters being interesting, the setting is Naperville IL. As an IL suburban native, I recognized almost all of the locations mentioned in the book. In fact, I used to take my son to Grandma Sally's on Odgen Ave in Naperville for pancakes when he was just a little boy!

[Carla J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great idea for a book. It centers around a serial killer who kills his victims to mimic children's games like Operation and Monopoly. These particular games also feature one cop Emily Thompson who loved those games as a child. The problem is that I figured out who the killer was about 1/3 of the way through the book.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bias alert! Shane is a good friend, and I really enjoyed his first novel. Reason for only 3 stars is because I've also read the second novel, and it is even better! Edge of your seat police procedural!!

[Starla B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was engaging, and I really liked the characters. I did figure out the bad guy pretty early, but I read a lot of these types of novels. I'm glad I read this, and will probably buy the next story.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book from front to back in 3 hours flat. That was how good this book was. I love the character of Emily, she is someone who acts like someone I'd be friends with. Now on to the second book of the series.

Shane Gericke, get your butt busy writing more of these books!!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Loved how it was set in an area that I'm really familiar with. I could almost see it all playing out in my head.

[Pam]

11/01 bought at MOTB

[Jerrle Gericke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spouse bias alert! My husband's first published novel! The best is yet to come!

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily is a newly minted homicide detective. Involved in the hunt for a killer, it soon becomes apparent that the murderer is sending her messages.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good and i do want to read the next one....but it was a little predicable...but not to bad....it did at least keep my attention....so overall it was good....

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book. I enjoyed it even more because I live in the area and know the areas mentioned.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Really kept me wanting to read more. Cant wait to keep going in the series

[Jason Schaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't read fiction in awhile. Cop story that was great fun to read. Didn't want to put it down. I live nearby, so the Naperville references were fun.

[Linda Barnett-johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read. Not my forte as far as storyline, but still kept my attention.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down.

[TeriC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, it got so much suiting I couldn't put it down. Such an interesting plot and so well written.