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The Chain House by J.H. Markert book coverOut now
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The Chain House

by J.H. Markert

OCT6Tue
Published Tuesday 6 October 2026Paperback · Crooked Lane Books · 336 pagesSee everything out in October 2026 →
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About the book

From the publisher

A dangerous cult leader, days away from execution, reveals he is the famous author behind a bestselling series. With his death, the final, unpublished manuscript—and the crucial evidence it contains—will never see the light of day.

In the tradition of Stephen King, this multi-POV, page-turning horror thriller from author J. H. Markert is packed with mind-bending twists.

Days before his execution, notorious mass murderer Sal Batise, known as the Breaker of Chains by his cult followers, grants an unlikely interview to a young filmmaker, Sam Harper.

This interview could launch Sam’s career. But his carefully planned questions—including the one about the recently kidnapped governor’s wife—fall apart when Batise seizes control.

On live TV, Batise claims that he is Mallard Malone, the anonymous author of a blockbuster thriller series. Stay his execution, and he’ll release the final unpublished manuscript that holds the key to finding his victims’ bodies.

Meanwhile, a ransom note arrives with a single demand to save the governor’s Batise’s execution must go on as planned.

Desperate for more information, Sam teams up with Jennifer Daley, a childhood survivor of Batise’s cult, to locate the missing manuscript and uncover the truth behind their own ties to Batise.

As fiction and reality collide, a deadly chain of events leads to a race against time to stop an execution that could have catastrophic consequences on the world.

Description supplied by the publisher.

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