Editorial Content for The Laughing Dead: A Steinbeck and Reed Thriller
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Jess Lourey’s Steinbeck and Reed series, which has garnered plenty of accolades, continues with THE LAUGHING DEAD.
Cold case agent Evangeline “Van” Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck have made a formidable pair and worked on some unique and borderline supernatural cases together. However, this third book will explore an idea posed in THE REAPING --- that Steinbeck’s long-missing sister may have been a victim of Reed’s father, Frank, who ran an infamous cult in the area.
"I enjoyed THE LAUGHING DEAD, which leaves the door wide open for the fourth entry in the series. I very much look forward to it!"
As Reed struggles to put the memories of her time spent on Frank’s Farm, which deeply scarred her mentally and physically, in the rear-view mirror, she is called to the scene of a crime where the victim is sporting a ghoulish grin. This is highly reminiscent of a case from 1986 where three teenage girls were found dead. Their deaths were unexplainable as none of them were suicidal or in any kind of trouble. Each had a severe, rictus-like smile across their faces, and they were dubbed “The Laughing Dead.”
What makes Reed special are the visions she has when she is part of an investigation, which she and Steinbeck have used to their advantage. She seems a bit stunted with the current case, perhaps because the memories of Frank’s Farm and the trauma it caused her has become all-consuming after she learns of her father’s supposed death in a plane crash.
Throughout the novel, we get to experience the bizarre cold case through the eyes of the three young ladies. Reed and Steinbeck eventually discover that there is a connection among them and they were not merely victims of a drug overdose or rough sex gone bad. This also opens up Reed’s visionary powers as she begins to connect the dots between her own past and the fate of the Laughing Dead.
When someone they are working with is shockingly murdered and left with the same Mad Hatter-style grin, Reed and Steinbeck realize that the killer is still at large and is very much aware of them. At this point, Reed begins to feel that the case has gotten extremely personal. Through some expert plot twists that Jess Lourey throws at us, we will be equally surprised by how this unpredictable story gets resolved.
I enjoyed THE LAUGHING DEAD, which leaves the door wide open for the fourth entry in the series. I very much look forward to it!
Teaser
The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota --- each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin. But authorities eventually close and forget the curious case, dubbed the Laughing Dead. Decades later, cold case agent Evangeline “Van” Reed is called to the scene of a crime where the victim wears that same horror-movie smile. But this time someone seems to be sending a message: Van’s police ID has turned up at the scene, making her the prime suspect. It’s not that outlandish, considering her secrets --- ones she’s never even told her partner, forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck. As she feels others closing in, Van reopens the mystery of the Laughing Dead, hoping to find a connection to clear her name. But the more she digs backward in time, the closer she comes to a terrible truth: Everything she has spent her life trying to hide is returning to haunt her.
Promo
The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota --- each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin. But authorities eventually close and forget the curious case, dubbed the Laughing Dead. Decades later, cold case agent Evangeline “Van” Reed is called to the scene of a crime where the victim wears that same horror-movie smile. But this time someone seems to be sending a message: Van’s police ID has turned up at the scene, making her the prime suspect. It’s not that outlandish, considering her secrets --- ones she’s never even told her partner, forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck. As she feels others closing in, Van reopens the mystery of the Laughing Dead, hoping to find a connection to clear her name. But the more she digs backward in time, the closer she comes to a terrible truth: Everything she has spent her life trying to hide is returning to haunt her.
About the Book
Two murder investigations, decades apart, threaten to expose a cold case agent’s darkest secrets in a pulse-pounding thriller by the Edgar Award–nominated author of THE TAKEN ONES.
The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota --- each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin, smiling at a deadly joke no one can hear. But authorities eventually close and forget the curious case, dubbed the Laughing Dead.
Decades later, cold case agent Evangeline “Van” Reed is called to the scene of a crime where the victim wears that same horror-movie smile. But this time someone seems to be sending a message: Van’s police ID has turned up at the scene, making her the prime suspect. It’s not that outlandish, considering her secrets --- ones she’s never even told her partner, forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck.
As she feels others closing in, Van reopens the mystery of the Laughing Dead, hoping to find a connection to clear her name. But the search only gets darker. Because the more Van digs backward in time, the closer she comes to a terrible truth: Everything she has spent her life trying to hide is returning to haunt her.
Audiobook available, read by Carly Robins
