The Terror of Living by Urban Waite

The Terror of Living

Urban Waite

In this modern western thriller, drug trafficking replaces the old Wild-West gunslinger and cattle-rustling themes, with an ex-convict drugs-runner pursued by the lawmen and a psychopathic hit-man. You will need a strong stomach to cope with all the blood-letting, as here the villains are nastier, the killings grislier - and with no moral certainties any more, whose side will you be on?

Extract
A minute passed and then another. The smoke alarm sounded, the smell of something burning. Nora heard footsteps go past. Something hit the floor hard outside her door, shaking the wooden boards. She heard a man's voice call out, and then nothing else. Nora didn't dare to move. There was no sound now, just Nora sitting in a pitch-black room with only the sliver of light entering from beneath the door. She waited. Something dark and liquid began to creep beneath her door. She knew already what it was, the light slowly disappearing as the blood spread out along the floorboards.
Parallels
  • No Country for Old men by Cormac McCarthy
  • Tourist in the Yucatan by James McNay Brumfield
  • Fargo - the film