The Soul Hunter
Authors: Melanie Wells
PRAISE FOR MELANIE WELLS’S BOOKS
The Soul Hunter
“A bloody ax, a tragic victim, a persistent demon, a haunted killer, a broken heart—all this and a bunny rabbit, too? The master of supernatural mystery, Melanie Wells, delivers big time in
The Soul Hunter.
A dash of romance and a generous serving of humor, seasoned with grace, makes this a thriller not to be missed.”
K
ATHRYN
M
ACKEL, AUTHOR OF
T
HE
H
IDDEN
“In
The Soul Hunter
, Melanie Wells demonstrates again her talent as a storyteller. Her lovably neurotic and intrepid narrator, Dr. Dylan Foster, is back, haunted once more by demonic Peter Terry, and terrified not only by the presence of a bloody ax on her doorstep but also by an invasion of rats in her home and an upcoming tenure review. Part mystery thriller, part comedy of manners, part novel of moral scrutiny,
The Soul Hunter
showcases Wells’s gift for spinning an intricate tale filled with an edgy mix of humor, suspense, and spiritual intrigue. I swallowed the novel in one deliciously terrified gulp.”
K. L. C
OOK, AUTHOR OF
L
AST
C
ALL
AND
T
HE
G
IRL FROM
C
HARNELLE
“With deft humor and spiritual insight, Melanie Wells is creating one of the most memorable and likable heroines in mystery literature. This is spine-tingling storytelling. It’s edgy: It’s hip. And it’s not to be missed!”
E
RIC
W
ILSON, AUTHOR OF
E
XPIRATION
D
ATE
“Melanie Wells let me to see the world through a woman’s eyes without getting grossed out or crying, “Cooties!” The Dylan Foster character was believable, relatable, and someone cool I’d like to be friends with. The fact that she’s a demon-seeing curious professor who can’t stay out of trouble is charming. It’s great to “ride along” with a down-to-earth Christian who fits into her culture without apologies or overt preaching.”
D
OUG
V
AN
P
ELT, EDITOR OF
HM M
AGAZINE
When the Day of Evil Comes
“
When the Day of Evil Comes
is a chilling story, blessedly short enough to be read over a weekend because you’re not going to want to put it down until you’ve finished it.”
P
AULA
P
ARKER
, L
IFE
W
AY
C
HRISTIAN
R
ESOURCES
“Melanie Wells has written a powerful first novel.”
D
ALLAS
M
ORNING
N
EWS
“
When the Day of Evil Comes
is a glimpse into the spiritual battle taking place not only for our hearts but also for our minds…a well-crafted novel with a compelling heroine and plot.”
M
ELANIE
D
OBSON
,
F
OCUS ON
F
ICTION
For Dwight Huber,
who taught me always to speak my mind
and
For Vickie Kraft,
who taught me that perhaps
always
is not a good idea
“
To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours…. [But] one must face the fact that all the talk about [the Enemy’s] love for men…is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth.”
S
CREWTAPE TO
W
ORMWOOD IN
T
HE
S
CREWTAPE
L
ETTERS
BY
C.S. L
EWIS
A magical transformation takes place when your first book gets published. Credibility, as it happens, opens a lot of doors. And waiting on the other side are articulate, accomplished professionals who are happy to help you with your research. Talking to these individuals, digging into their expertise, was the great joy of writing this book.
I’m indebted to the good folks of the Dallas Police Department Crimes Against Persons Division (CAPERS), Homicide Section, who do an impossible job under difficult circumstances, yet manage somehow to retain their decency and their humanity. Any authenticity in this story is theirs. Deliberate inaccuracies (the DPD does not keep prisoners handcuffed or chained during interrogation, for instance) are mine, kept for the sake of the story. Detectives Robert Quirk and Phil Harding, two of the finest and hardest working people I know, let me follow them around and made themselves available for all of my questions. Detective Dan Krieter gave me a fascinating explanation of fingerprint technology and helped me work out crucial details regarding physical evidence. Sergeant Eugene Reyes was generous in offering me access to his squad. And Gerry Meier, Senior District Judge, Dallas County (retired), who served as my entrée to the DPD, shared a pot of tea with me and helped me construct a criminal
history for Gordon Pryne.
I’m grateful to Bruce Feldman for help with the Hebrew. And to my former colleague, Bob Pyne, Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, for his help with theology, and for lending me a stack of his books for the better part of a year.
Pamela Lindsay Feagins, M.D., pitched in on medical issues, as did Drs. David Missimo and Bryan Forsythe. And a big thanks to Beverly Crittendon, the only female used car dealer in Dallas, for letting me use her car lot.
At Multnomah, Kevin Marks, fiction group publisher, and Sharon Znachko, group marketer for fiction, have been incredibly supportive, as have the rest of the folks up there in Sisters. And James Hall, the Multnomah artist who designed the cover for this book and for
When the Day of Evil Comes
, managed to capture the eerie character of both novels in a way that compels people to pick them up off the stack and take them home.
Rod Morris, my editor at Multnomah, waited patiently while I finished the draft—several months after deadline—and then managed, with his customary sharp eye, deft ear, and infallible tact, to excavate just the right words from the pile. What a pleasure to work with an editor who respects the writer’s voice, yet knows exactly when to tone it down (by cutting the parentheticals, primarily).
Lisa Taylor, my publicist, is intrepid in her pursuit of reviews, interviews, press mentions, and speaking opportunities. My agent, Don Pape of Alive Communications, is a godsend, in the truest sense of the word. I’m humbled by his faith in me and grateful for his persistence on my behalf and his unflagging regard for my work.
Trish Murphy takes the solitude out of writing for me. I wrote much of this book parked at her kitchen table with my laptop while she tweaked song lyrics and made the tuna casserole. Dennis Ippolito read the manuscript several times, asking questions, offering suggestions, and helping me excise the mistakes.
His input has been invaluable. And Trish and Dennis both, champs that they are, sat around a swimming pool in Phoenix with me one hot weekend in September and read the entire manuscript out loud, laughing at all the right moments and helping me with nuances of tone, rhythm, plot, and dialogue.
Thanks to Elizabeth Emerson, Kim Coffin, and Christine Carberry, who combed the final draft for errors and picked them out, one by one.
A special thanks to the staff at LifeWorks, who fill in the gaps when I’m buried in book-related tasks. And to the Waah Waah Sisterhood for keeping me sane. Much love to Dot, Ron, Mike, Alissa, and Chance.
It takes a village to produce a novel. To those wonderful individuals who helped with this one, I offer my deepest thanks.
Y
ou’d think I’d have learned my lessons by now. Some people, it turns out, are not what they seem. Some secrets, it turns out, are better left untold. And some specters, it turns out, are better left unseen. And the answers, it turns out, don’t always arrive in order. And when they do show up, they just might kick open a door you’re better off leaving closed up tight.