What Hides Within
Jason Parent
Inside all of us, there is darkness. Inside Clive, it's tangible, and it's aching to get out.
What Hides Within tells the story of a man held captive by an unknown evil. Clive Menard is a spineless slacker leading an ordinary existence. But when Chester enters his life, it becomes far from ordinary.
A disheveled Clive stands alone in a hospital waiting room. A series of incidences have led him to undergo unnecessary neurosurgery. A voice inside Clive’s head nags him to kill the doctor.
Weeks prior, a murder investigation and an unrelated kayaking excursion set the story’s interlocking events in motion. When a remorseful killer, a bomb-happy psychopath and a mysterious widow spider converge upon Clive, they bring with them destruction and death. Clive must discover who or what is steering his very existence before he, too, is consumed by the carnage around him.
With a driven detective following his every step and a vicious killer hiding within his circle of friends, Clive must walk a narrow and dangerous path, teetering between salvation and damnation. He must confront Chester and his own demons. But is he powerless to overcome them?
Character Interview – Chester
JP: Welcome back to Frank Talk. I’m your host for
this evening’s interview, Jason Parent, author of What Hides Within. Before the
break, we put the bug in your ear about our very special guest, one sure to
dazzle you, enchant you, and maybe even make your skin crawl. Ladies and
gentlemen, please welcome . . . Chester!
I see the door backstage open as if on its own. No one comes through
it. The audience stares at it, then at me. I can feel their impatience
mounting. Where is she? This is so embarrassing, being stood up by a guest.
Wait a minute. I hear something, the slightest pitter-patter of feet
upon the hardwood floor. The sound amplifies. The feet draw nearer, working
their way up the stool beside me. They stop atop the seat.
JP: Chester! You’re here. I was beginning to
think you weren’t coming. Could you wave one or more of your legs and say
“hello” to the crowd?
C: Hello, everyone. Thank you for having me on
the show, Jason.
JP: I didn’t realize you were so small. Someone
could have stepped on you. We could have had a crew member carry you in.
C: I will suffer no such indignity from your
kind.
JP: Okay . . . So Chester, what the hell are you
exactly?
C: For the most part, I resemble a black widow
spider, color variations aside.
JP: But you are so much more than just a spider,
aren’t you?
C: How many other spiders do you know that can
talk?
JP: There’s Charlotte from E.B. White’s novel.
C: That stupid cartoonish spider who befriends a
pig? Nothing but a weak, laughable, socialistic know-it-all. Here’s a spoiler:
that bitch gets what’s coming to her in the end. Don’t ever compare me to her
again.
JP: Aren’t you the hostile critter? How did they
ever get a microphone on you, the tiny speck of spitfire that you are?
C: Very delicately. Besides, I’m only hostile
when it serves my purposes.
JP: And what purposes are those?
C: I simply want to be what I once was, what I
deserve to be again.
JP: That’s rather cryptic. Do you care to
elaborate?
C: If I told you--
JP: You would have to kill me? How dreadfully
unoriginal. I wrote you to have more wit than that.
C: You saved all my best lines for the book,
What Hides Within, available where books are sold.
JP: A cheap and blatant plug . . . I like it! So
where are you living these days?
C: I’ve got me a new host who’s very malleable.
With but a whisper, my will is done. You humans are so susceptible to inner
monologue.
JP: I bet you’re giving whoever it is an earful.
C: That’s terrible. Besides, I don’t stay in the
ear too long. I like to move in deeper where I have more control. Plus, it’s
cozier, less drafty.
JP: I’m afraid we’re running out of time. Will we
be seeing you again?
C: That’s up to you. But darkness is everywhere.
I’ll be around. The next time that voice inside your head urges you to act upon
your most deviant desires, answer its call. It could be me. And if it is and
you don’t do as I say, you’ll soon wish you had . . . if you live long enough.
Giveaway: Open internationally until Oct 9, 2012. Prize: 1 Ebook (pdf, epub or mobi) of What Hides Within. Winner has 48 hours to respond to winning notification or a new winner will be chosen.
