A River of Secrets

Overview

Advanced Practice Registered Nurse pens multi-award-winning series inspired by true events; optioned and in development for TV

Ravaged by guilt over her twin sister's murder, Leslie Moore is struggling to get through her last semester at St. Benedict High. Even her relationship with her boyfriend Derek is falling apart. But after receding floodwaters from the Bogue Falaya River expose the bones of a woman, Leslie becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer. Sightings of an apparition haunting The Abbey send Leslie and her friends back to the scene of the horrors from last Halloween, but no one is prepared for what they find. After a stranger—the handsome Luke Cross—arrives in town, another girl goes missing, and the sheriff suspects the newcomer is hiding something. Leslie believes the Devereaux family is connected to everything going wrong in St. Benedict. And she means to uncover the truth, no matter the cost. Not all secrets can be kept silent...some eventually find their way home.  

Reviews

~Reviewers have said Death by the River calls to mind various media (books and Film/TV) including Pretty Little Liars, American Psycho, 13 Reasons Why, Bates Motel, Riverdale, Sharp Objects, and the original Twin Peaks. "Weis and Astor just completely dominated the YA Thriller genre ..." ~NetGalley Professional Reviewer "A deliciously dark and timely teen crime thriller deserving of a TV series. While tackling heavy-duty subject matter with grace and sophistication, Death by the River is tailor-made for fans of Riverdale and Twin Peaks." ~BestThrillers ".… the type of cautionary tale that keeps you alive by reminding you that sometimes the biggest horrors aren't the monsters hiding under the bed but the ones hiding in plain sight." ~Nerd Daily "… a hella creepy, intense read." ~San Francisco Book Review "... the drama of Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars mixed with American Psycho." ~The Book Curmudgeon "Dark secrets and disturbed minds. A brilliant mystery thriller." ~Isabel Rivera "You could practically taste the fear." ~Laura Hernandez, YA Book Divas "... a chilling horror tale, not for the squeamish ... darkly, painfully engaging." ~IndieReader "... a thrilling psychological work ... Catching the current vogue of teen psycho and revenge tales like Bates Motel and 13 Reasons Why ... a horrifically brilliant book ... Beau Devereaux could have easily been a clichéd psycho, but the plot constructed around him and his development during the novel really shone as a masterpiece of character creation." ~Readers' Favorite "… the type of cautionary tale that keeps you alive by reminding you that sometimes the biggest horrors aren't the monsters hiding under the bed, or the ones that exist somewhere else in the world, but the ones hiding in plain sight." ~Nerd Daily "... gripping mystery. Death by the River sends a reminder not only of Ted Bundy, but also the reality that psychopaths still exist." ~Feathered Quill Book Award Judges "... an evocative setting, powerfully defined characters, and a long hard look at the darker side of human desire, [you] will catch your breath and hold it until the very end." ~US Review "... the darkest of humanity, and the ways that woman are preyed upon in youth, those two themes, which feel so of the moment in the age of True Crime and the confrontation of rape culture in the mainstream of our socio-political consciousness, play heavy in the novel, but at the same time, the path of the story follows a path of entertainment that is undeniably in the mold of Teen fiction from the late 1990s. Lo to the person who goes into this blind, but if you know, then there is much to discover, and it is strong indeed." ~Christopher Garcia, Hugo Award Winning Author AWARDS TO DATE: Top 5 Finalist: Mystery/Thriller 2019 Kindle Book Awards from Kindle Book Review (Amazon) Winner/Gold: Young Adult Fiction 2019 International Book Awards Winner/Gold: Social Issues 2019 Readers' Favorite Book Awards Winner/Gold: Young Adult Fiction Horror/Mystery 2019 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Winner/Bronze: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror 2019 Feathered Quill Book Awards Finalist: Young Adult Fiction 2019 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Quarterfinalist: (Winners TBA 2020) 2019 SCREENCRAFT Cinematic Book Award Amazon rankings to date: • Top 500 overall in paid Kindle Store • Top 50 overall in Young Adult alongside Lord of the Flies, Harry Potter, and The Goldfinch • Top 35 in Teen & Young Adult Literature & Fiction along with classics such as The Giver, The Catcher in the Rye, The Outsiders, and 1984 • Top 25 in Teen & Young Adult Social & Family Issue Fiction, beating The Hate U Give, The Hunger Games, The Book Thief, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone • International bestseller in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, in multiple Young Adult categories including Thrillers & Suspense, Horror, Depression & Mental Il

Author Biography

Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author, an advanced practice registered nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She has taught at major universities and worked in nursing for thirty years, dealing with victims of sexual assault, abuse, and mental illness in a clinical setting at many New Orleans area hospitals. www.AlexandreaWeis.com. Lucas Astor is an award-winning author and poet with a penchant for telling stories that delve into the dark side of the human psyche. www.LucasAstor.com