The Chain House

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 With his death, the final, unpublished manuscript-and the crucial evidence it contains-will never see the light of day.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 Stay his execution, and he'll release the final unpublished manuscript that holds the key to finding his victims' bodies.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 wife: 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.

J. H. Markert is a producer, screenwriter, husband, and father of two from Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also a tennis pro for twenty-five years before hanging up the rackets for good in 2020. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Louisville in 1997 and has been writing ever since.