Cover Reveal - Hunted by M Pratwell

Title: Hunted

Series: Upstate New York Mystery

Author: M. Pratwell

Cover Designer: Genevieve Scholl

Genre: Mystery

Release Date: August 29^th2013

Today's cover reveal is for Hunted by M Pratwell. I think you'll agree, its a great looking cover. Here's a bit about the book.

 When a serial killer moves in to the town of Rome, N.Y and bodies start to pile up, there is only one man who can solve the case.

Frank Hanson was blissfully enjoying his new role as homicide detective. He was even 80% sure that he knew the clue to solving the worst murder case of the year. But, when his girlfirend is kidnapped and a unique ransom note is left for him, he may have to rethink the whole case to save her. Little does he know, she's not the only one he needs to save.

Author Bio

M. Pratwell has always been an avid reader and when her friend, Genevieve Scholl, started publishing books she found that she had the urge to write her own novel. She wasn’t sure if she could do even half as well as Genevieve, but she knew she had to try. With encouragement from Genevieve and their other friend, H.R Hyacinth, she sat down with her Ipad and started typing. At first, it was just a jumble of words that made no sense, but eventually she started to form a mysterious story set in her hometown of Rome, N.Y. She fell in love with the characters and was desperate to solve the case.

Unedited Excerpt of Hunted

The ride along the Erie Canal was smooth and pleasant, save for the slight breeze that blew up from the water and chilled her skin. The leaves on the trees moved in silence, acknowledging the presence of the boat as it passed. Elena touched two of her fingers to her temple, sending Mother Nature and the spirits around her a respectful salute. She had boarded the boat to get away from everyone she knew and clear her head, but she was glad that the spirits had tagged along. They calmed her.

She closed her eyes and listened to the gentle lap of water against the bottom of the boat. The spirits might have calmed her, but she still hadn’t decided what she was going to do about her current situation. How was she going to support another human being, if she couldn’t even support herself? How was she going to tell her parents? They’d likely want her to get an abortion, but there was no way she was going to kill the innocent child that was growing inside of her. If she couldn’t give he or she a good home, then she would find someone who could. She allowed a tear to slip down her cheek; giving the child up for adoption would kill her, but she would do what was best for her baby.

The sound of footsteps behind her jerked her from her thoughts. Swiping the tear from her cheek, she spun around to the person who had just joined her. Dark hair covered his head, the ends lightly touching his jaw as the breeze toyed with the strands. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes and an earring glinted in the sunlight as it peeked between the strands of hair. He was handsome, in a non-conventional way, but Elena couldn’t help the unease that she felt as he continued to stare at her.

“You really shouldn’t be out here on your own,” his gravelly voice said. “You could fall overboard and no one would know it.”

Before she could respond, he moved. Elena barely had time to blink before she felt his hands against her shoulders. Her feet came off of the deck and floated in front of her for a few minutes as the railing dug into her spine. She deeply inhaled to scream, but before any sound could escape, his hands moved to her throat to silence her. The pressure he applied was suffocating and Elena gulped for air. The water beneath the boat suddenly sounded louder than it had before; it roared in her ears like distant thunder. She clawed at her assailant’s throat with her fingernails, but to no avail. The block to her airways was making her dizzy and disoriented. She wasn’t even sure if she had made contact as her arms flung about like two fish out of water.

She gave up and waited for death to come, but just as the darkness started to take over, the pressure on her throat was released. She gulped in confusion, trying to relieve the pain in her lungs. Why had he let go? Had he been scared off? Her answer came in the worst kind of answer as those hands grabbed on to her again and pushed her up and over the railing.