Shomi Spotlight: Excerpt – Countdown by Michelle Maddox

This book was released this month and already I’ve seen a lot of good reviews and buzz for it around the internet. After reading this excerpt (and some others) I can see why. I still haven’t decided which book to pick up next. Maybe this one?

THREE
Kira Jordan wakes up in a pitch-black room handcuffed to a metal wall. She has 60 seconds to escape. Thus begins a vicious game where to lose is to die.

TWO
The man she’s been partnered with–her only ally in this nightmare–is a convicted mass murderer. But if he’s so violent, why does he protect her? And stranger still, what is it behind those haunted sea-green eyes that makes her want to protect him?

ONE
No one to trust. Nowhere to run. And the only hope of survival is working together to beat the
COUNTDOWN

Countdown by Michelle Maddox

Excerpt from Chapter 1

It’s called nyctophobia. I looked it up once. It’s the official
term for an abnormal and per sis tent fear of the dark. I’ve
had it ever since my parents and sister were murdered during
an in- home burglary and I hid under my bed.
In the dark I couldn’t see anything. I could just hear the
screaming.
And then the silence.
So, yeah. I’ve been scared shitless of the dark ever
since. Go figure.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly where I found myself when
I opened my eyes. Frankly, I don’t even remember closing
them. I’d been in the mall—I remembered that much.
I’d just lifted a new pair of shoes because my old pair
was practically worn out, since all I do is walk everywhere
in the city, day in and day out. This pair was nice.
Red. With strong laces that, if necessary, could double as
a weapon.
The streets were tough sometimes. Especially at night.
Especially in the dark.
Like right now.
But this wasn’t the street; I knew that much. I was inside.
Somewhere.
I couldn’t concentrate, though, due to the choking panic
that began to flood my body. I knew it wasn’t going to do
a hell of a lot to freak out, but sometimes you just can’t
stop yourself—or reason with yourself—when you’re in
the pro cess of freaking out.
I felt a pinch at my right wrist and reached over with
my other hand, blindly trying to feel my way through the
inky blackness. It was a metal cuff. Attached to a chain.
Attached to the smooth, cold metal wall behind me.
What the hell was going on here?
Had I been caught shoplifting? Was this prison? I racked
my brain but came up blank. No, I’d grabbed the shoes,
shoved them under my coat, and left the store to go into
the half- abandoned mall, where I put them on, throwing
my old shoes in a garbage can. And then . . . then what
happened?

This book is available from Dorchester. You can buy it here.

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