The Shoals

Ten miles off the New England coast, the Isles of Shoals have fascinated historians and geologists for hundreds of years. Surrounded by treacherous underwater ledges and unpredictable currents, the grouping of nine tiny islands is rich in folklore and mythology. But the Shoals also hold a deadly secret. Something has come to roost there, a force neither living nor dead, a power without conscience or remorse. And now, three hundred years after its first awakening, as a line of lethal tropical storms marches steadily up the eastern seaboard, it is about to rise again. Feeding on weakness and desperation, and fueled by the fury of the natural elements, its power can already be felt on the mainland, as it begins to draw a handful of unwilling, unknowing victims to the Shoals, searching for the perfect human host…. Doyle Walker, an architect from Iowa who has never even seen the ocean before; Lea Stoddard, a lifelong resident of the seacoast, whose secret emptiness may provide the mysterious force with the strength it needs to reach the mainland; Maxwell Cavanaugh, a rich and powerful stock broker, who believes no one is beyond his reach; and Moses Thayer, the former lighthouse keeper of the Isles of Shoals, whose past has made him all too familiar with the terror they are all about to face. All of them feel the call of the unnatural phenomena that has reawakened on the Shoals, and each of them has become entangled in a tightening web of human deceit and supernatural tragedy spanning back to the earliest days of the islands themselves….

About the Author

Brad J. Boucher is the author of five novels of horror and suspense: "Curnow's Crossing," The Shoals," "Diviner," "11:11," and "Primal Fear," all coming soon in paperback editions, as well as three collections of short horror stories: "The Dead Hours", "Readings from the Book of Pain", and "In the House of Sin." In addition to his novels, he has also placed more than fifty short stories in the small and semi-pro press, with work appearing in such publications as "Deathrealm", "Palace Corbie", "Best of the Midwest", and "Iniquities". One of his stories, "Cold Touch," was reprinted in the hardcover anthology, "Quick Chills II: The Best Horror Fiction from the Specialty Press", while several others have received honorable mentions in various editions of "Year's Best Fantasy and Horror." As a writer, his main preference continues to be horror fiction, though he has written and placed many science fiction stories, as well as a handful of thrillers and (very) dark comedies. One of his goals as a writer is to produce a string of horror novels that offer a fresh approach to both the subject matter and the genre itself, and to continually blur the lines between horror and other genres of fiction. His influences include the works of Stephen King and Clive Barker, the fiction of Graham Masterton, Joe R. Lansdale and Robert R. McCammon. He also cites a diverse group of non-horror writers as influences, including Elmore Leonard, Jerzy Kosinski, Tom Franklin and Chuck Palahniuk. Brad lives on New Hampshire's Seacoast with his two daughters, where he is working on his next two novels "Asylusum," and "Surfacing" as well as a new collection of short horror stories, currently untitled.

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