“The character of White Knuckle himself is one of the most gruesome and terrifying ever imagined.  Like Thomas Harris did in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Red demonstrates that the scariest monsters don’t always come from another planet or the laboratory of some misguided scientist – but rather are flesh-and-blood humans we might see on any given day, with an altogether different attitude about the value of life.  Eric Red is an author to discover and enjoy, and WHITE KNUCKLE is highly recommended for those who prefer their horror with a huge dose of reality.  But avoid reading it before taking a road trip, unless you’re prepared to alter your route before hitting the road.” — Alan Cranis, Bookgasm.

Read the full review at:  http://bit.ly/1M7sD4I

WHITE KNUCKLE is available now in trade paperback and digital editions in bookstores, from Samhain Publishing, or on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1STW9jo

The address is 3512 W Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank. Thanks to Del Howison.

WHITE KNUCKLE is available now in trade paperback and digital editions in bookstores, from Samhain Publishing, or on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1STW9jo

“Terror and suspense on the road.

Eric Red’s White Knuckle is as high octane a horror thriller as they come. It is a cross between Silence of the Lambs and Richard Matheson’s Duel. It also bears a very slight resemblance to the 80s film, The Hitcher which was written by Eric Red as well as was one of my favorite vampire movies, Near Dark. Those two movies and this novel have something in common and that is they show that Red knows how to write dark and evil characters that jump out at you. If his psycho villains come out a little too super-human sometimes, it just revs up the suspense and gives us a little more worry and need to cheer on the hero or, in this case, the heroine.

Our heroine is FBI agent Sharon Ormsby who is assigned to the FBI’s Highway Serial Killing Initiative which tracks and hunts down murders on interstate highways. She comes across a pair of bodies that appear to be linked but, if so, it means that the killer has been active for over 30 years. In the meantime through alternating scenes, the reader discovers quickly that this is a trucker who uses the CB handle White Knuckle. He is abducting women and imprisoning them in his own torture chamber on wheels.

White Knuckle has the right amount of action, crime know-how, suspense, and terror to appeal to a number of genre readers. The FBI/CSI enthusiasts will get a lot of crime-fighter stuff. The author certainly know a lot about the trucking industry too. The suspense/thriller reader will not be disappointed with the tense writing and many taut action scenes. And the horror fans will find lots of scares, both psychological and physical. But it is the cat-and–mouse relationship between Sharon and White Knuckle that kept my interest. The character of White Knuckle is a larger than life serial killer; obsessed, thinks he is smarter than everyone else and just may be, and highly misogynistic. His killing of women is described by the author in a way that hides no facts about his villainy and frankly may be too much for some readers. Yet when Sharon, who is undercover and on the road with a veteran truck driver she had partnered up with, comes into contact with him we can feel the killer being both threatened and challenged by this woman. This is handled well by the author and only adds to the tension as Sharon builds her case and White Knuckle prepares for what he sees to be his final triumph. The final climatic scene is one of the best written action segments I have ever read on paper.” Rating: 5 out of 5 stars –Martin Vernon, The Novel Pursuit.

Read the entire review at http://bit.ly/1ApAda9.

“PLOT: Sharon Ormsby, a feisty young FBI upstart, lobbies for an undercover gig to hit the highway and track down a ruthlessly indefatigable serial killer – a big-rig hauler known as White Knuckle – who’s been raping and murdering women for over 40 years.

“Horror – The more credible the threat, the better the capacity to un-nerve today’s jaded audience.  The late Richard Matheson knew this, as did Robert Bloch, taking the tropes of the horror story and firmly planting them in our own suburban lawns and on our highways.

Eric Red is the successor to Messrs Matheson and Bloch.  And he proves it once again here with a “road” story that is every bit as memorable as Matheson’s Duel.

White Knuckle is the CB handle of a long distance trucker, who has operated as one of America’s most prolific serial killers for forty years with several hundred victims buried all over the USA.  He chooses a victim at a truck stop, or forces them off the road keeps them locked in a steel box between the wheels of his truck, sadistically toys with them and finally dumps the body in a shallow grave in a different state, having knocked out the victim’s teeth out to further impede identification.

Enter Sharon Ormsby, a rookie FBI agent, who takes the case as an undercover assignment, taking to the road with a sympathetic long haulier to track down the killer who is out there, somewhere taunting on a CB radio.  Possibly in an overtaking truck, possibly in the one in the rear view mirror.

Partly horror with a psycho on the loose, partly police procedural, it’s a taut suspense story, and a welcome return to the road horror story by the man who defined this sub genre in the eighties with his original screenplays for cult classic films such as Near Dark and Hitcher.

The greatest strength of the book is the simplicity of the protagonist’s motivation.  White Knuckle murders without any real reason except for sexual gratification (necrophilia is alluded to) and the smug satisfaction not being caught.

There is no padding in the story, the pacing moves as relentlessly as White Knuckle’s black Kenworth truck.  Literally, no filler – all killer. It comes as no surprise that the film rights have already been secured.

Starburst rating 9/10 stars.”  –Robin Pierce, Starburst Magazine.

WHITE KNUCKLE will be published June 2nd in trade paperback and digital editions by Samhain Publishing.  It is available for pre-order on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/1GSmiYF

I’m doing a book signing for my new novel, WHITE KNUCKLE, from Samhain Horror on Saturday June 6th and 2:00 PM at Dark Delicacies bookstore in Burbank, California. The address is 3512 W. Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505. Thanks to Del Howison. Stop by if you’re in the area!

“Horror veteran Eric Red brings all of his prodigious storytelling powers to bear in his newest novel, White Knuckle. The title may reference the ways a driver curls their fingers around the wheel but the reader will find the novel has the same effect on their fingers around this book. Eric Red first took horror to the highways back in 1984 when he wrote the screenplay for the horror classic The Hitcher.

White Knuckle is a contemporary tale of a long-haul trucker serial killer and the FBI Special Agent out to stop him. Sharon Ormsby is a new Agent with the Bureau assigned to the Highway Serial Killer Initiative when she discovers a pattern among dead women found along the nation’s highways. The problem is that the bodies are separated by thousands of miles and more than twenty years. Can there really be a serial killer out there who has been using the interstate highways as a killing field for such a long time, can there be someone out there that dangerous? I’m not giving anything away when I say that there is, and that things are worse than anyone could have imagined…”‘

Read the full review at: http://www.horrorreview.com/white-knuckle-book-review/

#mysterybooks #mystery #serialkiller #fbi #procedural #crime #trucker #thriller #action #scary #mustrea #amreading

“Rip-roaring, knuckle-biting, constantly suspenseful adventure in this riveting mystery thriller by the author of IT WAITS BELOW, WHITE KNUCKLE pits a probationary FBI Special Agent with a sad background and finely tuned intuition against a human monster–a long hauler trucker who began killing and torturing animals at age six and who has slaughtered women and girls in interstate rampages for four decades. Rife with high-octane tension, WHITE KNUCKLE also delivers extended characterization and well toned backstory. It’s a Don t miss, but don’t read while traveling the highways, or sleeping alone.”

- Mallory Heart Reviews (Five star review).

WHITE KNUCKLE will be out June 2nd in trade paperback and digital editions from Samhain Publishing, and is now available for pre order on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1EvCjSN

The digital edition can be pre ordered on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1EvCjSN. The trade paperback will be available shortly.

“There’s a killer on the road…
He’s a big rig truck driver who goes by the CB handle White Knuckle, and he’s Jack the Ripper on eighteen wheels. For thirty years he has murdered hundreds of women in unimaginable ways, imprisoning them in a secret compartment in his truck, abducting them in one state and dumping their dead bodies across the country.
Dedicated FBI agent Sharon Ormsby is on a mission to hunt down and stop White Knuckle. She goes undercover as a truck driver with a helpful long hauler named Rudy in a cross-country pursuit that will ultimately bring her face-to-face with White Knuckle in a pedal-to-the-metal, high-octane climax on a highway to Hell.”