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Pub date September 16, 2025

Kalen Books

ASIN B0FDV7GTHV

Price $1.99 (USD) Kindle edition

Author interview

Hodge delivers a taut, atmospheric thriller that blends survival suspense with a moving portrait of grief and redemption. Kenzie Adams carries the crushing weight of her nephew’s drowning, a tragedy that drove her from her hospital career. Hoping that the quiet of a secluded island camp will restore her, she takes a post as nurse for the summer. But when three fugitives land on the island in search of treasure, her refuge becomes a battleground. With no way to call for help and a child’s life on the line, Kenzie must summon strength she no longer believes she has.

The island is drawn with exacting detail: mist curling through forests, waves lapping with cold menace, a landscape that mirrors the story’s tension. Leah projects quiet strength; Kenzie falters under grief; Chris is at once a reminder of innocence lost and a spark of hope, while Jon enters with the heaviness of his own scars. Rather than caricatures, the fugitives are drawn with unsettling realism—their greed and fear corroding judgment until survival instincts drive them to brutality. What elevates the novel beyond standard thriller conventions is its emotional core. Kenzie’s battle is both with the men who hold her captive and the crushing conviction that she cannot protect those who rely on her.  Their threat mirrors her deeper conflict: recover her ability to trust herself, or repeat the heartbreak of failure.

A razor-sharp thriller that grips from the opening page and doesn’t let go.

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