Jordan Dane - An Author Interview at the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Jordan Dane. She is the bestselling Author of Young Adult & Crime Thrillers including the Ryker Townsend FBI Series and the Mercer's War series.

Author: Jordan Dane

Author Genre: Romance, Mystery & Thrillers, Young Adult

Website: Jordan Dane
Author's Blog: Jordan's Website Contact Page
Twitter: @JordanDane
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook

Amazon Author Profile



Author Description:
Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She also pens young-adult novels for Harlequin Teen. Formerly an energy sales manager, she writes full time and shares her Texas residence with two lucky rescue dogs.


SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Let’s start with what’s next. Rumor has it that you have another A Braxton Valentine Novella on the horizon. Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

The two-novella story with my hero Braxton Valentine will be completed when VALENTINE & THE LOTUS CIRCLE http://jordandane.com/books/amazon-kws/valentine-lotus-circle/
releases on February 15, 2018. This is novella 2 of 2 in Desiree Holt’s Phoenix Agency Amazon Kindle World of sexy former military alpha males and their psychic women. I don’t write the steamy stories that my dear friend Desiree Holt does, but my stories are high octane, emotional story lines that readers have enjoyed.

After Valentine’s explosive novella 1 – VALENTINE: STEEL HEART http://jordandane.com/books/amazon-kws/valentine-steel-heart/ – Valentine is driven by guilt and revenge over a tragic death that has rocked his world. He’s coerced into being the latest recruit to the Phoenix Agency as a covert operative and a powerful psychic, but he is not a team player. To confront his rogue ways, the agency hires a mysterious woman psychic from the ancient and mythical Lotus Circle. She’s a woman who doesn’t like to lose, but she’s met her match in Valentine.

To read an excerpt of Valentine & the Lotus Circle, visit this link: http://jordandane.com/books/amazon-kws/valentine-lotus-circle/

You have a good following on twitter. Since you started before the social media buzz, what impact has social media relationships had on your current success? How did you build your following in your niche? How much has it changed your book launch process?

I’ve built up my Twitter and Facebook followers over time and being active. I have over 5,000 followers on each. I’m on Twitter all the time, mostly for fun stuff. (I’ll explain.) Other authors post more regularly on Facebook than I do, but too much social media is a time drain.

I like to have a balance with my writing. My writing always comes first. I’m pretty disciplined to write for certain hours each day and maintain a daily word count goal. My word count depends on how tight the deadline is. (I tend to write 1500-2000 words per day, but have written up to 6,000.) I check my emails and social media after my goals are met and only for a limited time.

As for my shenanigans on Twitter, I’ve built up my followers by being ME. I don’t do the hard sell. I gain followers from my views on various current events that matter to me (sometimes politics) and I tend to focus on topics related to writing. For example, I’ve had TV shows that I ‘live tweet’ when the shows are on the air. That’s when I practice my snappy one liners and my odd humor and invent fun hashtags. I post on my pets and food and show pictures. I write about crime shows, especially through the prism of a writer’s perspective. I chat with script writers and directors from TV shows, in this country and in the UK. But when it comes time for me to post about a new release, I notice that my followers help retweet my posts (RT) and they ask me about my books, rather than me having to do the hard sell. I’ve gained readers because of my active status and ‘no pressure’ sales approach.

I also give back to the writing community by blogging at The Kill Zone (TKZ), a top-rated and award winning blog on the craft of writing. I post on social media every day, to support the other contributing writers at TKZ and drive traffic to our blog. Our blog gets 1500-2000 hits per day. That makes me active on the following Twitter hashtags - #amwriting, #writing, #writetips, #writerslife, and #publishing for industry trends.

Social media can be fun, but there’s simply no way to know whether it drives sales, so I choose to make it fun, more than work. My main goal is to craft the best book I can and keep new offerings coming out every few months.

You have a couple great book trailers. (See links below.) They look very professional. Do you know how much impact they have had on your book’s success? Tell us about the process that you used to create your trailers? Do you use the trailer in your character development? Are the pictures and background the way you see your characters and scenes?

I haven’t made a book trailer in a long time. The time it took to put together one for myself was more done for fun (I love being my own director) and when I was a new author and thought it was important. The thing about sales is that the average reader is influenced to buy a new author if they see the author’s name several times. They usually don’t run out to buy a book written by a new author (new to them) unless they see it online or on social media or have heard about it from a friend. I’ve never seen a book trailer result in a sale. It’s nice to post a trailer on your book page where a reader can watch it and buy the book on the same page, but even then, a reader might not do it. For my money, nothing works better than writing a great book and the word of mouth from enthusiastic readers.

Two of my trailers were professionally done: ‘In the Arms of Stone Angels’ and ‘the Wrong Side of Dead.’ Both of these trailers can be seen at this link: http://jordandane.com/extras/book-trailers/
When you work with a professional, I try to dictate the script. It has to be tightly written in order to tell the story in as few words as possible. The trailer should only be 30 seconds long ideally, though some of mine were longer, maybe a full minute. Viewers don’t have time to read a lot of text on the trailer, so this would be like messaging a log line/elevator pitch. You should boil down what your story is about in 1-2 lines tops. Not easy.

I tried to have the character images on the trailers reflect how I saw them, but when you go through a professional trailer producer, you don’t always get your pick. That’s frustrating. This goes for book covers if you aren’t creating them yourself as a self-published author. Publishing houses didn’t always please me with their covers and their images, but that’s what happens when you sell. I had film interest in my YA story, In the Arms of Stone Angels, from two big names, but it never came about. Once you sell your rights, you give up all control to how you see your book.

Several of your novels have been converted into audio books. What has been the impact on your regular sales? Has the audio books gained a new audience for you?

Almost every book of mine is available in Audio. The more formats listed on your book pages, the better visibility and Amazon algorithms appear to like the varied formats, too. After I realized Harlequin Teen didn’t acquire audio rights for my debut YA – IN THE ARMS OF STONE ANGELS – I explored creating a self-published audio book through ACX. Here is a link to ACX: http://www.acx.com/ ACX is a great site for writers, voice actors, and production crews to collaborate and create audio books through Audible. Libraries like the audio format as well, so an author would have the potential for tapping into a wider audience.

I’ve learned that I know nothing about marketing for audio, other than to make my offerings available through distribution channels that cater to libraries. Exposure and available formats is always a good thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed making my YA novel into an audio book and I loved the voice actor/narrator that I chose through online auditions via ACX – Michelle Ann Dunphy. http://michelleann.com/ My agent sold my audio rights for BLOOD SCORE to Audible and they hired James Patrick Cronan to do the voice acting. http://www.jamespatrickcronin.com/
He’s an amazing award-winning talent. My favorite audio books of mine have been the ones I had more control over.

You have written many novellas. Can you tell us if they had an impact on the sales of your novels? Are shorty’s one of your styles of writing or are they created to give readers a sample of your work? Do you feel short reads are a product of our email and smart phone age?

This is a huge topic for me. Novellas (usually price discounted) can be a great teaser for a series, without having to give away a first book in a series. Writing shorter stories, when I was used to writing novels, is NOT easier. It’s actually harder to maintain the quality my readers have come to expect on plot and pace and characterizations. I’m writing a stripped down version that has to be lean and mean, while still representing my brand. My writing style has changed and evolved and I’ve learned a lot from writing novellas. It’s been great for me.

Amazon Kindle Worlds (KWs) was created to imitate fan-fiction, something I wrote before I sold to a traditional house. The quality for KWs is better than ‘fan-fic’ because of Amazon Publishing’s oversight. I’ve found that the best way to promote my own series is to merge my world with a host world at KW and gain readers from the crossover. (I retain copyrights to my original characters for the worlds I write for, based on contract language.) As a KW author, I launch with a group (usually 10-20 other authors) and with Amazon, we promote each other’s books in a mass launch. The host author (usually a best seller with a huge and loyal following) plus the launching authors, we all share promo and invite our readers to try all the books. Since most are priced by Amazon based on length, a novella is priced at $1.99 and readers can try the whole bunch. Win-win.

Another reason I’ve liked writing KWs is that I can fit them in between my novel deadlines and write them fast. Depending on how many KWs I commit to write, I keep my name in front of my readers (as well as new readers discovering me through KWs) and have been growing my mailing list with people who want to be on it. I can have a new offering out every few months. Amazon KW pays a small bonus that generally covers the cost for most of my production, but I am definitely in the black upon release and things launch from there. Ebooks are the gifts that keep on giving if you’re the author.

As for novellas impacting the sales of my novels, they definitely have. My Ryker Townsend FBI profiler series http://jordandane.com/books/ryker-townsend/ had only one novel in it, but I’ve merged my cast of characters with several host authors in Kindle Worlds and now I’ve got readers clamoring for Ryker. Same goes for my Mercer’s War series. http://jordandane.com/books/mercers-war/ The first story - Mr January - was launched as a novella on my own as an indy author, but I have since added several more Mercer novellas and that series is very popular. Writing novellas has allowed me to feature my original characters and cultivate a following for the series in a faster way with multiple offerings that readers still enjoy. Readers who have discovered my novellas usually go back to buy my backlist novels. It’s been great for sales.

If readers appear to have shorter attention spans these days, KWs and fan-fiction type stories have filled a void because they are shorter and can develop quite a following. These shorter stories encourage reluctant readers to keep reading. Because these books are affordably priced, I’ve seen readers buy tons of these novellas and read from one to the next. I don’t think that’s characteristic of readers with short attention spans. The KW readers I know are voracious readers and love the escapism of these adventure-filled or romantic stories.

Did you know that Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James was originally fan-fiction from the YA Twilight vampire series, written by Stephenie Meyer? The author had written what is called ‘slash’ in fan-fic (which are graphically sexy stories) for the Twilight books and decided to change the names and adapt her writing to what turned out to be an international sensation.

You have a great blog. You do a great job keeping readers informed, marketing your books and providing useful information to other writers. What is your primary goal? And where in the world do you find the time to create great novels, take care of the social media and maintain your blog?

My blog is The Kill Zone https://killzoneblog.com/
- It’s an award-winning group blog geared toward the craft and business of writing. Let me emphasize the word ‘group’ blog. We post daily, but there are twelve of us who do the work and keep the blog active with a great community of aspiring and published authors. I had my own blogs over the years, but NOTHING beats a group blog for maximizing the outreach and minimizing the workload. I love my fellow author contributors, respect their talent and advice, and I love the community of followers we’ve built over the years.

We focus on the craft of writing, trends in publishing, and any tips our members have an interest in. I learn so much from my fellow blog contributors and from our followers. I’m proud to say we’ve contributed to quite a few of our members getting published.

I’ve been affiliated with TKZ for nearly ten years and I post twice a month, plus I help with the Friday discussion questions and host a few months (with weekly topics) during the year. I promo my latest releases on the end of my personal posts when I have something new, but the focus is almost always toward writing craft. In my opinion, the best promotion an author can do is to write a good, well-crafted book. I still am a sponge for craft topics and with each new book I write, I push into new territory. I love challenges.

What is your primary genre? What has been your best marketing approach to this group?

My comfort read and genre is crime fiction. That’s a big umbrella for all the subgenres under it, like police procedural, espionage, action/adventure, romantic suspense, romantic thrillers, mysteries, etc. Even when I wrote my young adult novels for Harlequin Teen, I had a crime fiction bent to them so my adult readers wouldn’t think I’d lost my marbles. But I found that when I split my time between genres, I had to be mindful of my brand. When I wrote YA, my publisher kept me busy with contracts until I didn’t have time for my adult books. Not good. I missed writing them, but had no time for writing when my publisher’s production schedule dictated so much of my time. Plus, writing for teens and that market is vastly different, promotion-wise. I had to maintain two websites, two social media platforms, and split my time between two marketing sectors. I loved writing YA, but that’s not my comfort zone, so I went back to adult books and don’t regret that decision. There’s a cost factor in maintaining two genres for promotion and I learned a good lesson by trying it, but I’m wiser for having gone down that road.

Between your book writing, blogging, marketing, family and all the other things that can get in your way, how do you manage your time? Do you have a set schedule or do you sort of play it by ear?

I have a scheduled day. My biggest problem is that I enjoy writing so much, I don’t have the balance in my life that I probably should. I’d like to travel more and spend time with friends that I have all over. Once I commit to a deadline (and I can fill up my year fast), that dictates my time commitments. I have daily word count goals of 1500-2000/day and usually write from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm with breaks every few hours. But writing isn’t a faucet that can be turned on and off. It comes when it comes. When I’m on deadline, my hours can be crazy. I may write late in the evening or get up earlier because character voices in my head won’t let me sleep.

But playtime away from writing also serves a purpose in replenishing the creative well. I like to fill that time with friends and family. I try not to have deadlines during the holidays, for example. Another good thing about writing with daily word count goals is that if I want to take time off for good behavior, I can make up for the day I spent with friends by writing more the next day. Being self-employed, doing what I am passionate about, is not work. It’s a joy.

What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?

I don’t giveaway books for free unless it’s for a book launch and I’m giving away Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) in exchange for an honest review. I limit how many I give out as ARCs and if someone promises to write an honest review and they don’t write one at all, they are off my list. I’ve seen authors who make their first book in a series as perma-free. I’ve never done that. I’m sure there’s a strategy to it for independent authors and if that first book is damned good, it might result in more sales for the series, but I’ve sold most of my books through a publisher and don’t have that decision. Publishing houses do NOT give away a book. They only do steep discounts.

Do you maintain a reader list? What are the methods you use to find your readers and create the list and the relationship? Do you use social media, forums, newsletters and/or support groups to build your list?

By reader list, I believe you’re referring to my mailing list that I’ve grown over the years and have cultivated since I was first published. (If you’re referring to readers interested in obtaining Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) in exchange for an honest review, I offer ARCs exclusively through my e-newsletters to my mailing list of followers. It’s part of the perks to being a member.)

In my social media outreach (Twitter & Facebook), I encourage readers to sign up for my mailing list by offering giveaways, exclusive advance content, and ARCs in the future. http://jordandane.com/contact/
When I launch a new release for an Amazon Kindle World, for example, I’ll offer a few free books in a contest. Signing up on my mailing list is one of the ways for them to enter and be eligible for prizes. Once a reader is on my list, I do NOT inundate them with promos. I typically send e-news once a quarter and share what’s coming out, along with giveaways or insider news. I hear from readers through my newsletter and it’s fun to connect with them.

With every online promotion I do on social media, or on websites like Goodreads, I encourage readers to sign up on my mailing list. Using the Rafflecopter form for contest entry https://www.rafflecopter.com/
is a good way to define what you want readers to do (your objectives), as well as giving them a clear way to enter and potentially win free books and other prizes. For example, they can enter as many times as they want if they do the things I offer, such as follow me on Twitter or Facebook, join my mailing list, tweet promo for me, follow me on Goodreads, etc.

I haven’t tried creating a “street team” of followers to help me promote my books. I have quite a few followers on Facebook that are very enthusiastic, who might consider doing this for me. Maybe in 2018, I’ll try it. It’s on my list of things to do. Many successful indie authors do this and have had good results.



Author's Book List
Valentine: Steel Heart - A Braxton Valentine Novella (1 of 2)
Love made him vulnerable…once

Former covert operative, Braxton Valentine, is on a train to Los Angeles with his fiancée to meet her parents for the first time. He’s given up his dangerous job to start a new life with the woman he loves, but on a scheduled stop in El Paso, two shady men board the train. Brax fears the suspicious men have targeted him for revenge from a past mission and his primal instincts kick in. With his fiancée and other innocents onboard, he’s forced into a terrible choice.

Head of the Phoenix Agency’s fledgling Psi division, Mia Romeo wants recognition for her team’s psychic abilities to combat crime. After a frightening vision, she doesn’t question her telepathic instincts to board a train in San Antonio alone, not knowing where she’s going until she reaches El Paso. Her gift spirals her into a sinister premonition centered on two men boarding her train, assassins from a cartel Phoenix has in its crosshairs. She uses her newfound telepathic gift to warn their target and head off the carnage, but the man they’re after has a powerful mind barrier she can’t penetrate.

Valentine averts a massacre with his quick action, but after his fiancée is killed, the police can’t find the mystery shooter who took her life and the cartel is bent on revenge. Operating in the shadows, Mia and the Phoenix Agency ruthlessly use Brax as unwitting bait to lure a deadly cartel boss from hiding, but grief-stricken Valentine becomes their worst nightmare—a rogue operative with a death wish.


Order the Book From:
Amazon


Fiona's Salvation - Jordan Dane's Ryker Townsend FBI Profiler Series Book 5
When he sleeps, the hunt begins.

After Fiona Storm nearly lost her life in a Mexican jungle at the hands of human traffickers, she discovers the ordeal left her with a damaged psyche and her therapist fears Fiona has blocked her worst memories. Not even her loving Navy SEAL husband, Hunter ‘Cookie’ Knox, can get her to open up. The man who rescued her from certain death in Mexico fears she’s beyond his reach, but Fiona’s fragile life is about to shatter.

When an eighteen-wheeler is abandoned in San Antonio in the sweltering heat, police make a gruesome discovery. Nine dead Hispanic men, women and children are found among countless others, barely alive. Before a young captive is admitted to ICU, she begs for authorities to find an American—Fiona Storm.

FBI agent Ryker Townsend investigates and hopes to uncover a lead on a faceless cartel boss known only as El Chacal. After the critically ill, kidnapped girl shares a story of tragic sacrifice about an American, Ryker and his team follow the lead to Fiona’s doorstep. She’s the only witness who can identify the diabolical crime boss, but she’s blocked the terror from her mind—along with the truth of what really happened to her. With Hunter on a high stakes mission that puts his entire SEAL team in danger, Fiona is alone to face the wrath of a man who destroyed her life—only this time El Chacal wants her dead.


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Amazon


The Darkness Within Him - Jordan Dane's Ryker Townsend FBI Profiler Series Book 4
When seventeen-year-old runaway, Bram Cross, is threatened by a vicious derelict with a machete, he wants to run but can’t. An odor on the homeless man triggers a seizure that catapults Bram to another time. He collapses to the ground with his mind under siege—forced to relive the worst day of his life.

Bram wakes up next to the corpse of a homeless man in the shadow of a haunted bridge in Washington DC. His only friend has left him behind to face murder charges and Bram is arrested for a shooting he didn’t do. In desperation he calls the only man he trusts—someone who saved his life five years ago.

Dallas fire fighter Jax Malloy receives a frantic call for help from a kid he’s never forgotten. He first set eyes on Bram as a twelve-year-old boy, the sole survivor of a horrific tragedy. His mother, Evangeline, had shot her three children before she took her own life. Jax held Bram in his arms as he clung to life. Although the kid survived, he would never be the same. Jax has only one friend in DC he would trust with Bram’s life—Ryker Townsend.

FBI Profiler Ryker Townsend is a rising star at Quantico, but he has a dark secret. When he sleeps, he sees nightmarish visions through the eyes of the dead, the last images imprinted on their retinas. After he agrees to help Jax Malloy with a teenage runaway, he senses the real damage in Bram Cross. Ryker must reenact the boy’s terror in painful detail—and connect to the dead—to uncover buried secrets in the splintered psyche of a broken child.


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Amazon


Vigilante Justice - Jordan Dane's Mercer's War Series Book 3
After retired SEAL Hank Patterson gets a disturbing call from an old friend, pleading for him to look into the mysterious disappearance of a young college student, Hank fears his Brotherhood Protectors wouldn’t have the resources or experience to find the kid. FBI Special Agent Molly Greenbriar gives him the name of a former CIA operative—Mercer Broderick—who can get the job done, but she fears he’s turned into a mercenary for hire. Hank has little choice but to contact a shadowy man he’s not sure he can trust.

From his fortress sanctuary of Zion, built in the mountains of Wyoming, Mercer lives with his handpicked team. He isn’t keen on the idea of helping someone in the FBI. Not after he’s forged a network of wealthy benefactors across the world—the Alliance—influential, high powered people who secretly yearn for a new world order of vigilante justice.

But when Mercer’s computer genius uncovers a disturbing pattern of missing teens and young college students in Montana that has fallen under the radar of the FBI, Mercer sees a larger operation in play. The violent abductions of young Dreamer immigrants are at the heart of a dark web of conspiracy that Mercer must stop.

In a surprise face-to-face meeting, Hank confronts Mercer and insists on assigning Joseph ‘Kujo’ Kuntz and his dog, Six, to the Alliance team. Kujo has his hands full when he faces a well-funded, highly-skilled team of operatives, hell bent on vigilante justice.


Order the Book From:
Amazon


Hell Yeah!: Out for Blood - Mercer's War Book 2
Mercer Broderick is haunted by the death of his wife and son. While on a covert mission as a CIA operative four years earlier, he’d been on foreign soil instead of protecting Keara and Braeden in America. His family’s killers were never found. With his entire world destroyed, he quit the CIA and struggled for a reason to live, wallowing in grief and an all-consuming guilt.

Mercer emerged from the fog of devastation, obsessed with swift justice and driven to honor the memory of his beloved wife and child. He forged a network of wealthy benefactors across the world—the Alliance—influential, high-powered people who secretly yearn for a new world order of vigilante justice. With the support of a mysterious Danish woman, Eva Henriksen, Mercer built Zion in the mountains of Wyoming, a fortified sanctuary for his handpicked team.

After Mercer gets a lead on who ordered the hit on his family, he’s drawn to El Paso to take on the Galvez cartel and the faceless man known only as the Jaguar. Accompanied by his exotic bodyguard specialist, Keiko Kayakova—a blue-eyed Japanese beauty trained by her lethal Russian father—Mercer calls upon the Equalizers to join his Alliance team—Detective Santiago Gonzales, computer genius Saxon Abbott, Micah Wolfe, and Jet Ivan Foster. With the clock ticking, Mercer must take down the Jaguar before he closes up shop and disappears forever, taking his fortune and leaving a bloody carnage of dead witnesses.

But when his plan derails, Mercer is forced to risk his life to stop a mad man from getting away with murder.


Order the Book From:
Amazon


Mr. January - Mercer's War Book 1
Zoey Meager stares into an inferno as she struggles against two firefighters while an abandoned warehouse is gutted by a raging fire. She is desperately afraid her best friend Kaity is trapped inside, held hostage by a merciless gang of human traffickers. Denver SWAT has blocked anyone from getting near the blaze—but the police don’t know Zoey.

She ignores the danger and races inside a firestorm, but she’s not alone. A mysterious man dressed in black is wounded. When he tries to escape her and the police, Zoey grapples him to the ground, convinced he knows where Kaity is. In Zoey’s oxygen deprived brain, she’s sure he’ll kill her, but she won’t give up. The man is her only connection to a friend closer than a sister.

After the fire, Detective Estefan Cruz finds the bodies of three young women, bound and gagged in a locked storeroom. The blaze had been deliberately set to kill the witnesses. An unconscious Zoey Meager is found outside the charred building—a woman with more secrets and courage than sense—but the detective is suspicious. Is Zoey the only witness or did she have something to do with the horrific deaths? After she disappears, Detective Cruz is sure she’s hiding something.

Distrusted by the police and tailed by a sinister white van, Zoey is forced to hunt her mystery man alone—a dangerous stranger with a large black dog, completely devoted to its shadowy master.


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Amazon
Barnes and Noble


In the Eyes of the Dead - Jordan Dane's Ryker Townsend FBI Profiler Series Book 3
He hunts killers through the eyes of the dead

In the throes of PTSD, FBI profiler Ryker Townsend is plagued by haunting nightmares from a case that nearly cost him his life. But when a dead girl breaks through his recurring dream—with a lurid vision of her charred corpse—Ryker braces for the horror to come.

On the eve of Halloween under a rare blood moon, Ryker and his team are called to investigate the mysterious deaths of four teens in Brownsville, a small Texas border town. He believes the deaths are linked, a sick prelude of a diabolical killer. With Día de los Muertos only days away, Ryker fights against time before a ritualistic serial killer culminates a masterpiece by butchering during a celebration to honor the dead.

One strong-willed woman stands in Ryker’s way.

Athena Madero, co-founder of the private security agency, Omega Team, has a personal stake in Ryker’s case—her precious niece is his top suspect. Athena will stop at nothing to defend her family and uncover the truth, even if it means taking on the FBI. But a powerful influence from the dark side of Santería—spawned across the Mexican border—stands at the heart of a sinister conspiracy. A mysterious holy man and his devoted followers force Ryker and Athena to join forces to uncover a tragic truth.


Order the Book From:
Amazon


Redemption for Avery - Jordan Dane's Ryker Townsend FBI Profiler Series Book 2
When he sleeps, the hunt begins.

FBI Profiler Ryker Townsend is a rising star in Quantico’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, but his dark secret could cost him his career. When he sleeps, he has visions of his next case. He sees through the eyes of the dead, the last images imprinted on their retinas. His nightmares are riddled with clues he must decipher to hunt humanity’s Great White Shark—the serial killer.

While he’s investigating the shocking slaughter of a seventeen-year-old girl at Big Bear Lake, the tormented soul of another dead child appears to him in broad daylight. Twelve-year-old Avery Reed reaches out to Ryker—a disheveled and haunted girl, unable to speak—held earthbound out of love for her grief-stricken brother, Sam. Avery’s presence draws Ryker into a sinister conspiracy and she has a desperate message for her brother, if she can make Ryker understand.

Navy SEAL Sam ‘Mozart’ Reed has been haunted by the brutal death of his little sister Avery when he was only fifteen-years old. He vowed to seek and destroy the killer who splintered his family, wiping out everything he’d ever known. Nineteen years later, his darkest wish came true when he found Hurst, her alleged killer, and stopped him from murdering one last time. But when Mozart learns the FBI has reopened Avery’s case, he fears the worst. His SEAL team may have ended the carnage of a serial killer years ago, but for the first time, Mozart has doubts that Hurst had been the man who took Avery’s life. A heartless predator is still butchering young girls. Mozart’s worst nightmare is back with a cruel vengeance.


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Amazon


The Last Victim - Ryker Townsend Series - Book 1
When a young hunting guide from a remote island in Alaska is found brutally murdered, his naked body is discovered in the Cascade Mountains outside Seattle—the shocking pinnacle to a grisly Totem of body parts. Nathan Applewhite is the fourteenth victim of a cunning serial killer who targets and stalks young men.

With the body count escalating, FBI profiler Ryker Townsend and his specialized team investigate the gruesome crime scene. They find no reason for Nate to have mysteriously vanished from his isolated home in Alaska before he ended up in the hands of a sadist, who has been taunting Ryker and his team in a sinister game of ‘catch me if you can.’

But Townsend has a secret he won’t share with anyone—not even his own team—that sets him on the trail of a ruthless psychopath, alone. The intuitive FBI profiler is plagued by recurring nightmares—seen through Nate’s dead eyes—that slowly chips away at his mental stability. Is he burning out and losing his mind—becoming unfit for duty—or is the last victim reaching out to him from the grave?

Townsend sees horrific flashes of memory, imprinted on the retinas of a dead man, the last image Applewhite saw when he died. Ryker must piece together the fragments. Each nightmarish clue brings him closer to a killer who knows how to hide in plain sight and will see him coming, but when the dead man has the skills of a hunting guide, he has the perfect ally to track down a killer—the last victim.


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Amazon
Barnes and Noble
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Tough Target - Jordan Dane's Target Series (Novella 2 of 2)
Camila Borrego, the vindictive head of a powerful Cuban drug cartel, is on U. S. soil to avenge the murder of her father and she will stop at nothing to carry out what the man started. She orders assassination hit squads to target the elite Omega Team and their families, to annihilate them in vicious simultaneous attacks. Blood is shed and the Omega Team is hit hard.

No one is safe, not even Sam Rafferty’s mother.

Camila orders her deadliest executioners, identical twin brothers Amadeo and Tavio Vega, to seek and destroy retired Navy SEAL Sam Rafferty and his mother, and the ruthless cartel leader comes to witness the brutal carnage. As Sam’s mother, Geneva Rafferty, prepares her isolated cabin in the Florida everglades to weather a fast approaching hurricane, she’s caught in the crossfire of the deadly triad. She’s gravely injured and narrowly escapes the death dealers by fleeing into the swamp.

But Camila will discover that Sam Rafferty of the Omega Team is one tough target.

As a massive hurricane hits land, the storm rages toward Sam as he desperately searches for his missing and wounded mother, alongside Fish and Wildlife Special Agent Kate Cypress, an exotic Seminole beauty from his past who branded him with her love.

Isolated and alone in the vast and treacherous everglades, Sam and Kate are trapped in the eye of the storm with a cartel hit squad in hot pursuit. With time his worst enemy, Sam has no choice but to take a terrible risk that could jeopardize the lives of both his mother and Kate.

If he makes the wrong move, he could lose everything.


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Hot Target - Jordan Dane's Target Series Book 1
When Rafael reaches out to his sister for a job, Athena Madero—a founding member of the private security agency, the Omega Team—can’t help but be protective of her younger half brother. After a tragic hostage rescue and its aftermath, Rafael Madero turned into a solitary loner, only surfacing to fulfill his duties as team leader for an elite SWAT sniper unit with the Chicago Police. Athena decides to fast track his application by vetting him on the job—a mission to Havana Cuba to investigate a cold case murder.

But when the old murder is linked to the shadowy death of a powerful drug cartel leader, Rafael is burdened by a terrible secret from his past—and an unrelenting death wish—that puts him at dangerous odds with Athena and her team. He believes he’s beyond saving, but that doesn’t stop Jacquie Lyles from trying.

Jacquie sees something in Athena’s mysterious brother that touches her heart. Chivalrous and brave, Rafael is as rare as a unicorn in her life as techno computer geek and white hat hacker for the Omega Team. After she joins the team on its mission to Cuba, she uncovers Rafael’s shocking burden and it breaks her heart.

Rafael stands in the crosshairs of a vicious drug cartel—powerless to stop his fate—and his secret could put Athena and her team in the middle of a drug war.


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Crystal Fire - The Hunted (Teen)
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down

A storm is brewing on the streets of L.A., one that has intensified since a tragic and deadly confrontation claimed an innocent life.

While Gabriel Stewart trains his army of teen psychics to stop Alexander Reese—the obsessed leader of the Believers—the fanatical church becomes more bent on the annihilation of all Indigo and Crystal children. They're silencing the voices of the telepathic hive, one soul at a time, with frightening experiments cruelly executed on vulnerable minds.

When the Believers torture a mysterious homeless boy, Oliver Blue, they brainwash him into betraying his own. The boy becomes a deadly pawn sent to take Gabriel down. As the fires of chaos burn around him, Gabe is running out of time. He'll need to confront his past—and the man who made him—before the hope of peace for the future is silenced forever.


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Blood Score
A dangerous liaison ignites the bloodlust of a merciless killer

When a beautiful socialite is savagely murdered in Chicago’s Oz Park, Detectives Gabriel Cronan and Angel Ramirez find her last hours have a sinister tie to two lovers. One is a mystery and the other is a famous violin virtuoso.

A child prodigy turned world class musician, Ethan Chandler is young, handsome—and blind. He’s surrounded by admirers with insatiable appetites for his undeniable talent and guileless charm. From doting society women to fanatical stalkers and brazen gold diggers, the reclusive violinist’s life is filled with an inner circle of mesmerized sycophants who are skilled at keeping secrets.

After Cronan and Ramirez expose a shadowy connection between Ethan and the victim with a private elite sex club, they discover intimate desires and dark passions aren’t the only things worth hiding at all cost. A vicious killer will stop at nothing to settle a blood score.


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Indigo Awakening - The Hunted (Teen)
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He's warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish. On her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can't explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—even though he scares her.

They discover Lucas is running from the Believers, a fanatical church secretly hunting psychic kids—gifted "Indigo" teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind. Now Rayne's only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.


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On a Dark Wing
The choices I had made led to the moment when fate took over. I would learn a lesson I wasn't prepared for. And Death would be my willing teacher.

Five years ago, Abbey Chandler cheated Death. She survived a horrific car accident, but her "lucky" break came at the expense of her mother's life and changed everything. After she crossed paths with Death—by taking the hand of an ethereal boy made of clouds and sky—she would never be normal again.

Now she's the target of Death's ravens and an innocent boy's life is on the line. When Nate Holden—Abbey's secret crush—starts to climb Alaska's Denali, the Angel of Death stalks him because of her.

And Abbey finds out the hard way that Death never forgets.


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In the Arms of Stone Angels
Two years ago I did a terrible thing. I accused my best friend of being a killer after seeing him kneeling over a girl's body. That moment and that outcast boy still haunt me.

Now my mom is forcing me back to Oklahoma and I can't get White Bird out of my mind. But when I find out he's not in juvie—that he's in a mental hospital, locked in his tormented brain at the worst moment of his life—I can't turn my back on him again.

No one wants me to see him. My mom doesn't trust me. The town sheriff still thinks I was involved in the murder. And the other kids who knew the dead girl are after me.

I'm as trapped as White Bird. And when I touch him, I get sucked into his living hell, a vision quest of horrifying demons and illusions of that night. Everything about him scares me now, but I have to do something. This time I can't be a coward. This time I have to be his friend.

Even if I get lost, as well…


Book Trailer: In the Arms of Stone Angels

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Reckoning for the Dead - A Sweet Justice Novel
The remarkable Jordan Dane continues her National Readers Choice Award-winning Sweet Justice series with Reckoning for the Dead, a breathtaking blend of mystery, surprise, and heart-pounding adventure that places her popular series characters in danger's path once more. A polished gem of riveting romantic suspense, Reckoning for the Dead follows covert operative Alexa Marlowe of the elite vigilante agency the Sentinels as she hunts down the truth about the alleged death of her ex-lover and Sentinels chief, Garret Wheeler--while former bounty hunter Jessie Beckett finds herself ensnared in a very cold but still deadly case of murder. This one's a winner for fans of Tami Hoag, Andrea Kane, and Lisa Gardner.


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The Echo of Violence - A Sweet Justice Novel
Jordan Dane continues her gritty and acclaimed Sweet Justice series with The Echo of Violence, a new ripped-from-the-headlines thriller. A true master of gripping romantic suspense, Dane takes the breath away once more with this tale of a former international operative sitting atop a volatile Caribbean powderkeg and forced to trust her heart to a man who could sabotage everything. Fans of Tami Hoag, Lisa Jackson, and Lisa Gardner, give Jordan Dane a try—you will not be disappointed.


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The Wrong Side of Dead - A Sweet Justice Novel
In The Wrong Side of Dead, the second thriller of her new Sweet Justice series, Jordan Dane returns to the mean streets of Chicago, as bounty hunter Jessie Beckett works to solve a grisly murder and save a friend in the process. They must face the nightmares of their pasts if they want to avoid ending up on the wrong side of dead . . .


Book Trailer: The Wrong Side of Dead

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Evil Without a Face - A Sweet Justice Novel
Haunted and obsessed . . .

She sleeps with a Colt Python in her nightstand and her senses on alert—Jessica Beckett isn't taking any chances. Hiding a chilling secret, living in a world of snitches and felons, good cops and bad dreams, Jessica is a bounty hunter who brings lowlifes to justice. But not even she can imagine what she'll face when she tracks an online predator who has abducted a naïve teenage girl.

Making promises that can't be kept

Former NFL quarterback Payton Archer swore to his sister that he'd find her only child. But the police have no leads, and the teen's trail has turned cold. Plagued by personal demons, Payton's never considered himself a hero, but this time he has to be.

And fighting a faceless enemy

Joining forces to save the seventeen-year-old girl, Payton and Jessica discover that she's nothing but a pawn in an insidious, terrifying global conspiracy. They're battling a new kind of criminal . . . and soon their race for answers will become a dangerous struggle for survival.


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No One Lives Forever - No One Series
Nothing Is What It Seems

Born to a childhood pitted by violence, Christian Delacorte is desperate for peace when he embarks on a new life with the woman he loves, Detective Raven Mackenzie. But soon his old life comes calling—in the tempting form of a mysterious woman assassin.

When a Deadly Seductress Comes Calling

Jasmine Lee is determined to collect an old marker from Christian. He owes her—big time—and she needs his help freeing her kidnapped lover, Nicholas Charboneau—a powerful mogul linked to Chicago's underworld. Christian doesn't trust her, but Jasmine entices him to leave Raven behind when she reveals his shocking connection to Charboneau.

And a Lethal Race Against Time Begins

Christian has seven days to attempt an impossible rescue of the father he never knew. And when a woman assassin with ulterior motives makes a lousy ally, Christian is alone to face the stark reality that no one lives forever . . . and he might be the next to die.


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No One Heard Her Scream - No One Series
Burdened by Grief, She Hunts a Killer

They never found her sister's body, but Detective Rebecca Montgomery knows her murderer is still out there. In the five months since Danielle went missing, there have been two more brutal abductions. A savage menace stalks the women of San Antonio, and the relentless detective will do anything to find him.

And a Seductive Stranger Shadows Her Every Move

But her latest case—the discovery of a young woman's remains inside the wall of a burned-down theater—plunges Rebecca from her grief into a brand-new nightmare. She soon meets handsome, mysterious Diego Galvan at the crime scene, and his shadowy connections will lead to her first break in both cases. But when Rebecca submits to his considerable powers of seduction, she will leave herself vulnerable to a merciless killer . . . and when he attacks, no one will hear her scream.


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No One Left To Tell - No One Series
A Dark Message

The body of a brutally slain man is found on the holy grounds of a chapel, and a cryptic message pinned to his chest unravels the lives of people touched by a dark secret. Detective Raven Mackenzie and her partner uncover the dead man's connection to a powerful female crime boss, leading them to her mysterious head of security, Christian Delacorte, who soon becomes the prime suspect.

Triggers His Nightmares

Yet when Raven sifts through Christian's past, she discovers the man is plagued by deeply rooted nightmares—and a shadowy childhood tragedy linking him to the case. Convinced his past holds the key to finding the real killer, she defies her partner, following her gut instincts and trusting her undeniable bond with Christian.

And Arouses a Killer

But Raven shares her own date with destiny when she crosses paths with a heartless killer. And when he unleashes his rage, there will be no one left to tell.


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