Title: Into The Fog
Author: Michelle Godard-Richer
Genre: Psychological Sci-fi Thriller
Publisher: Next Chapter
Book Blurb:
Ice fog descends upon Dickens, Alberta, growing thicker and thicker until Heidi Crawford can no longer see the coniferous forest and snow-capped mountains outside the windows of her Jeep. A huge four-legged shape moves in the mist. She slams on the brakes and squeezes her eyes shut.
When Heidi opens her eyes, the fog is gone, but so is her life as she knows it. Instead of forest and snow, she’s on a single street in a tiny town, trapped in a scorching hot desert away from her daughter Emma. And she isn’t alone. Fifteen strangers are trapped in Ghost Town and soon, they begin disappearing, one by one.
Michelle Godard-Richer's INTO THE FOG is an unputdownable, chilling isolation thriller about a single mother separated from her daughter and trapped with fourteen strangers — one of whom is a killer.
Excerpt:
Heidi hummed along to an upbeat country song on the radio as she parked along the curb in front of Dickens Middle School. She turned to face her whole world, her sweet twelve-year-old daughter. “Have a good day, Emma. See you after school.”
Rather than open the door, Emma lingered with furrowed brows. “Do I really have to go to school today, Mom?”
Heidi sighed and turned down the volume. The first two and a half months of school had passed without incident, giving her hope Emma would make it through the seventh grade without being bullied. Her daughter made good grades and was kind to others, but her lack of self-esteem made her an easy target.
The temptation to cave and let Emma stay home gnawed at her, but she couldn’t let Emma hide from her problems. “What happened, sweetie?”
“Candace and Tiff are at it again. Making fun of my clothes, poking me during class with their pens, knocking books off my desk. You know, the usual.”
“I thought things had gotten better since last year.”
“There’s this new girl, Sadie Myers. She just moved to town in August. So obviously they went after her first. Fresh blood and all, right?”
“Of course. That’s what bullies do. Let me guess. You’ve made friends with Sadie so now they’re picking on both of you.”
“How’d you know?”
“You’re a sweet, kind-hearted girl. It’s what you always do. I’m proud of you, Emma. I know it’s hard, but you can’t let those girls get to you. Ignore them. Pretend they don’t exist. If they don’t get a rise out of you, they’ll give up.”
Emma picked at a loose string on her mitten. “Easy for you to say.”
“Do you want me to talk to the principal or your teacher? Talking to those girls’ parents over the summer clearly didn’t help.”
Emma straightened and her eyes widened. “Ohmigod! You talked to their parents? Please, don’t talk to the teacher. You’ll only make it worse.”
Emailing Emma’s teacher to find a discreet way to deal with the situation moved to the top of Heidi’s to-do list. “Okay, but staying home isn’t the answer either. What will Sadie do without you?”
Emma gazed down at her UGG booties, her auburn, unruly curls falling around her face. “I know.”
Heidi reached across the seat, looped a curly lock around her daughter’s ear, and touched her cheek. “Tell you what. We’ll go on a shopping trip to the city this weekend and get you some new clothes.”
Emma perked up. “Really? Can we afford it?”
“I just got my royalty payment from my publisher. Besides, money is for me to juggle. You just worry about keeping up your good grades.”
“Thanks, Mom. Can Sadie and her mom come?”
“Sure, invite them. I’d love to meet your new friend and her mother.”
Emma opened the door, and a blast of cold air blew inside the Jeep. With one foot outside, she glanced over her shoulder. “You’re the best. I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too.”
Heidi’s heart clenched as her little girl walked into school looking down at her feet the whole way, making her slight frame appear even smaller.
What is it going to take to get my baby to keep her head up?
A horn blasted behind her. Heidi jumped and banged her head on the roof of the Jeep.
Ouch.
She glanced in the rear-view mirror at the car behind her and rolled her eyes. Of course, the horn honker would be Candace’s father, Vaughn Crowley, the former star captain of the high school hockey team. He still seemed to think of himself as the king of their small town.
She grasped the door handle and debated getting out and giving him a piece of her mind, but it would only make things worse for Emma. Shaking her head, she clutched the steering wheel, and resisted the urge to flip him the bird as she drove off.
A layer of ice fog that had been building on the way to school had grown much thicker during the time she’d spent talking to Emma. The town of Dickens rested in a valley of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, trapping moisture in dangerous icy pockets of air.
Heidi could no longer make out the snow-capped mountains looming on either side of her, nor the tall, coniferous trees covering them. With the Jeep’s fog lights barely piercing the mist, she leaned forward, trying to make out the center line on the range road. A dangerous sheen sparkled on the pavement, but her four-wheel drive was engaged, and the winter tires were on.
Only five more kilometers to go.
Heidi knew this road and all its hills, having lived in Dickens her whole life in the same log home she now occupied with Emma. The largest of the hills on her route lay ahead. The Jeep crested to the top, then began its descent. Heidi held her foot on the brake to maintain her speed. On the side of the road ahead of her, a large, four-legged shape moved through the mist.
Heidi slammed the brake pedal to the floor. The Jeep slowed, skidding as her tires scrambled for purchase on the ice. As she skidded, the fog thickened, until all she could see was white. She pumped the brakes but continued to slide. Her heart raced and her hands shook as she clenched the steering wheel.
Please, please stop.
Ramming into a moose or a bighorn sheep, even at a slow speed, could be fatal.
Finally, her momentum slowed, and the Jeep ground to a halt.
The fog swirled then thinned, lifting from the ground, inch by inch, until the sky swallowed it up. But instead of revealing the few kilometers of mountainous forest leading to her homestead, Heidi found herself in the middle of a road that dead-ended in both directions. Unfamiliar, brown brick buildings lined either side.
Even more bizarre, the sun shone in a cloudless sky and a snowless, brown desert stretched for miles. Cacti as tall as trees surrounded her instead of spruce. She turned off the ignition.
This can’t be real. She squeezed her eyes shut.
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Author Biography:
Michelle Godard-Richer is an award-winning thriller and horror author with an Honours Degree in Criminology from the University of Ottawa. She was named Best Canada Author of the Year by N.N. Light’s Book Heaven and earned a Crowned Heart from Ind’Tale Magazine.
Her fascination with crime and human behavior, combined with a lifelong passion for the written word, led her to realize a childhood dream of becoming an author. She enjoys crafting strong protagonists and diabolical villains with realistic and believable characteristics while making their lives as complicated and dangerous as possible.
When she isn’t writing, you’ll find her in the garden or with her nose in a book. She lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta with her husband, two children, four dogs, and a cat.
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