“When you think that life cannot get better, Blake Pierce comes up with another masterpiece of thriller and mystery! This book is full of twists and the end brings a surprising revelation. I strongly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that enjoys a very well written thriller.”–Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Almost Gone) ALMOST GONE is book #1 in a new … #1 in a new psychological thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews.
When 23 year old Cassandra Vale accepts her first job as an au pair, she finds herself placed with a wealthy family in a rural estate outside of Paris, and all seems too good to be true. But she soon discovers that behind the gilded gates lies a dysfunctional family, a twisted marriage, troubled children, and secrets too dark to air.
Cassandra is convinced she’s finally found a fresh start when she takes a job as an au pair in the idyllic French countryside. Just beyond the Paris city limits, the Dubois manor is a grand relic of the past, the family its picture-perfect occupants. It’s the escape Cassandra needs—until she uncovers dark secrets that prove things aren’t as glamorous as they seem.
Beneath the opulence lies a dark web of malice, one Cassandra finds all too familiar, triggering dreams from her own violent and tortured past, one from which she desperately runs. And when a grisly murder tears the house apart, it threatens to take down her own fragile psyche with it.
A riveting mystery replete with complex characters, layers of secrets, dramatic twists and turns and heart-pounding suspense, ALMOST GONE is book #1 in a psychological suspense series that will have you turning pages late into the night.
Book #2 and #3–ALMOST LOST and ALMOST DEAD—are also available!
more
In “Almost Gone”, a psychological thriller by Orphelia Night, we meet Cassie Vale, a twenty-three year old woman who is fleeing from her abusive boyfriend Zane, She is constantly reminded of him because of his bruises on her arm. Zane reminds her very much of her abusive father, the reason she left home to be on her own when she was only sixteen years old and now has to take anxiety pills so she can get through each day and fall asleep each night. Cassie goes to France as an au pair, thinking she will finally live with a wonderful family and learn what family life should be like. She is lacking in experience with caring for children but Maureen, the owner of the au pair agency, places her anyway, satisfied with her answers to the questions of how she would handle disobedient or naughty children and how she would react if she witnessed a domestic fight in the home of the family she would be living with. Maureen tells her that she will be replacing an au pair who left a wealthy French family and their beautiful home after only a month of being with them. The family now has trouble finding someone to replace the au pair who left. Readers start to wonder if something is terribly wrong with the French family and how Cassie, already dependent on anxiety pills, will deal with any problems that might arise. Cassie is warned that if she quits the assignment before her year with the family, she will owe the au pair agency a big cancellation fee and plane fare and never get a job with that agency again. Readers now wonder what could be so wrong with the French family that the former au pair left in spite of owing so much money to the agency. Cassie flies to Paris within a week of her interview and readers fly with her. Once we get to France and meet the family, we wonder how Cassie will deal with them. I could not put the book down until the very end, reading into the late hours of the night, constantly wondering what will happen to Cassie and Pierre Dubois, the children’s father, his haughty fiancee’ Margot, and the children, 12 year old Antoinette, 8 year old Marc and 5 year old Ella.
Move over Turn of the Screw…. Is the au pair psychotic or is someone out to get her? Are the children budding psychopaths in search of he attention denied them by the persons who are supposed to care? Or is it all in the au pair’s imagination? The main character, Cassie, is a cliche: a desperate young woman trying to run away from an abusive past and abusive boy friend with no emotional or financial support. She is overly self-recriminating yet seems only to be worried about her job security as she refuses rational action “for the sake of the children.” And she is on anti-anxiety pills and another Rx that can cause psychotic effects…… Really? And there is a book 2!