Cemetery Girl

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Authors: David J Bell

BOOK: Cemetery Girl
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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

 

Part I

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

 

Part II

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-one

 

Part III

Chapter Forty-two

Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty-four

Chapter Forty-five

Chapter Forty-six

Chapter Forty-seven

Chapter Forty-eight

Chapter Forty-nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-one

Chapter Fifty-two

Chapter Fifty-three

Chapter Fifty-four

Chapter Fifty-five

Chapter Fifty-six

 

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

PRAISE FOR

CEMETERY GIRL


Cemetery Girl
is more than just an utterly compelling thriller—and it certainly is that. David Bell’s stellar novel is also a haunting meditation on the ties that bind parent to child, husband to wife, brother to brother—and what survives even under the most shattering possible circumstance. An absolutely riveting, absorbing read not to be missed.”


Lisa Unger,
New York Times
bestselling
author of
Darkness, My Old Friend

 


Cemetery Girl
is my favorite kind of story because it takes the familiar and darkens it. This story is essentially about a missing little girl, but trust me: you have never read a missing-persons story like this one. The reader is taken down the rabbit hole in this novel and when he comes out at the end—just beyond that mysterious and hopeful last page—he is all the better for having been invited inside Bell’s disturbing, all-too-real world.... A fast, mean head trip of a thriller that reads like a collaboration between Michael Connelly and the gothic fiction of Joyce Carol Oates,
Cemetery Girl
is one of those novels that you cannot shake after it’s over. A winner on every level.”


Will Lavender,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Dominance

 

“Grabbed me by the throat on page one and never let up. An intense, unrelenting powerhouse of a book, and the work of a master.”

—John Lescroart,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Damage

 

“A smart, tense, creepy take on the story of a missing daughter, told by her far-from-perfect father. If you think you know this tale—from all-too-familiar newspaper accounts, from lesser movies and books—then this terrific novel will make you think otherwise.”

—Brock Clarke, author of
Exley

 

“[Bell] writes with a clarity of both vision and purpose, and his characters are eerily familiar because they are just like you and me.”

—Thomas F. Monteleone, Bram Stoker Award–winning
author of
Fearful Symmetries

 

“With the psychologically twisted
Cemetery Girl
, Bell stakes his claim as a writer to watch.... Consider me a fan.”

—Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award–winning
author of
The King of Plagues

 

MORE PRAISE FOR DAVID BELL AND HIS NOVELS

 

 

 

“Gave me the tingle I felt when I read Richard Matheson’s
I Am Legend
for the first time. This is a wonderful, forceful, moody book that’s as palpable as it’s engaging. Pay attention to David Bell. This is the start of an impressive career.”

—David Morrell,
New York Times
bestselling author of
First Blood

 

“A novel of finely honed characters facing mysterious disappearances, madness, and loss on many levels. A masterful job.”

—F. Paul Wilson,
New York Times
bestselling author
of the Repairman Jack series

 

“Bell is the real deal, a true storyteller with a style as compelling as a news bulletin. You just keep turning the pages.”

—Ed Gorman, Shamus and Anthony Award–winning
author of
Ticket to Ride

 

“Just beneath the normal, lurk madness and waiting wickedness.”

—Mort Castle, author of
Moon on the Water

 

“Reads like a head-on collision between Dashiell Hammett and early Stephen King, with a touch of Robert Bloch’s sly dark humor thrown in for good measure—but its voice is very much its own, and the mounting sense of dread is undeniably palpable. This one will have you sweating during its final fifty pages, and your hands shaking as you turn those pages. Lean, mean, and ultimately quite moving . . . a rock-solid read.”

—Gary Braunbeck, Bram Stoker Award–winning
author of
Prodigal Blues

NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,
Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

First Printing, October 2011

 

Copyright © David J. Bell, 2011

All rights reserved

 

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

 

Bell, David.

Cemetery girl/David Bell.

p. cm.

ISBN : 978-1-101-54496-9

1. Missing children—Fiction. 2. Children—Crimes against—Fiction. I. Title.

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