Eyes Wide Open

My most personal novel, based on a family event: Jay Erlich’s troubled nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morro Bay, California, a tragic suicide it appears, until secrets from the past rear up again.

Years ago, Jay’s brother, Charlie, a wayward child of the Sixties, fell under the spell of a charismatic, but deeply disturbed cult leader, a mesmerizing human monster who set in motion a nightmare of violence. Charlie moved on and raised a family but the demons that nearly destroyed him never completely disappeared.

Heading West to his grieving brother, Jay finds himself being pulled back in Charlie’s dark history. In a story of two brothers—one successful, the other an outcast—Jay must put his own family on the line to uncover the truth about his brother’s son’s death, a dark and dangerous quest that brings up the secrets of the past again and plunges him over the edge into the depths of evil.

“Emotional weight... A harrowing story that work sits own terrible magic on a reader... A high-velocity page-turner.”    Connecticut Post.

“Gross expertly shows how evil’s influence can fester through the years before returning even more destructive than before. Vivid storytelling... Chilling!” South Florida Sun Sentinel

“Should be read with the lights on and the door closed, a rare and menacing psychological thriller that works on every level.”  Nelson DeMille