Back From The Dead

Tim Gaines was the town pariah. Mocked and teased continuously since he was in the sixth grade, he approaches his senior year of high school with a sense of cautious trepidation. Years before, when he was in the sixth grade, a group of boys led by Scott Bradfield—a popular, well-liked kid from well-to-do parents—spread a vicious rumor that he was a devil-worshipper. The rumor stuck, and is believed by most of the students and even a few of the teachers and administrators. It's a rumor Tim can't beat, and one he sometimes feels he's brought on to himself due to his love of horror novels and movies. Now Tim has become friends with a loose-knit group of kids who have also become social outcasts thanks to other rumors spread about them by the student elite. With their mutual support, Tim has begun to come out of his shell. He's going out with them, being invited to parties, and even begins to have a romantic interest in a girl, something he never thought would happen to him in high school. But all that will change when Scott Bradfield and his friends set their sights on Tim again. Only this time, they need his help. Like most of the student body of Spring Valley High School, they sincerely believe Tim Gaines is a devil-worshipper. And they believe he has a dark power. Now they want to use him and that power for their own sinister plight... ...To bring back the dead homeless man they'd kidnapped and brutally beaten to a pulp in the guesthouse that resides on the Bradfield residence. They want him brought back not because they're scared of getting caught for his murder, but so they can savagely beat and murder him again... ...and again...

J. F. Gonzalez is the author of fifteen previous novels of terror and dark suspense including Primitive, Bully, The Beloved, Survivor, and is co-author of the cultclassic Clickers, and the sequels Clickers II: The Next Wave and Clickers III: Dagon Rising (with Mark Williams and Brian Keene respectively). His short fiction is collected in four volumes, of which the latest, The Summoning and Other Eldritch Tales, is available now from Darkside Digital as an exclusive electronic title. Not content to rest on his laurels, he also works in other media including film, the technology sector, and other areas of publishing. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania and is currently working on his next novel.