“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

“The multi-talented Eric Red is a novelist, screenwriter, and film director; and he has a new book heading our way in early June entitled White Knuckle from Samhain Publishing.  Read on for all the details and a look at the cover art.

From the Press Release:
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.

The official release date is June 2, 2015.

Samhain Publishing Executive Editor Don D’Auria says: “Like all the best writers—and directors—Eric Red is versatile. Whether he’s dealing with the supernatural or the psychological, he knows exactly how to get the maximum suspense and tension out of any scene. He’s a master at it!”

Read the full Dread Central article on WHITE KNUCKLE here: bit.ly/1D6eqEl

“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.”