Welcome, family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. I invite you to read a preview of The Last Beacon and, hopefully, pre-order a copy so the story can find its way into your hands and into bookstores around the country.

I’ve been working on this novel off and on for many years, and I’m finally ready to share it with the world. The Last Beacon is a blend of genres, beginning as a murder mystery with a healthy dash of horror before slowly expanding into an epic sci-fi tale about the future of our world and the nature of reality. But as with all of my favorite stories, the twists, turns, and genre trappings would mean nothing without flawed and compelling characters to bring the story to life.

The Last Beacon takes place in the fall of ’99; perhaps a simpler time, but one in which the world is undergoing a major transition as the allure of the Internet begins to take hold across the country. This is especially true for Caroline Chambers, a lonely teenage girl in the seaside town of Farrow Point, New Jersey, who is enraptured by the new and fascinating connections this technology allows her to make. But when her only real friend in the world is found dead atop the town’s lighthouse, Caroline begins to realize the last few months of her life have gone down a strange and terrifying path, one which will lead to the discovery of a dark miracle that could either save or doom the world.

While her connection to the victim raises eyebrows, the spotlight soon shifts to Dean Orwell, the beloved but reclusive lighthouse keeper who first discovered the grisly aftermath of the murder. Nobody truly believes the frail old man could have committed such a violent act, but how can they fully trust him when the voice inside his head causes him to distrust himself?

Central to the story is a young detective, Sarah Matthews. A recent transplant to Farrow Point, Sarah is unprepared for the murder investigation thrust upon her, especially when she’s tasked with working alongside a pair of odd but affable FBI agents. As Sarah hunts for the killer, she struggles to bury the tragic and deeply personal reason she moved to Farrow Point in the first place.

Because if the truth ever came out, she’d be the last person anyone would trust to solve the case.