Vulnerable [Kindle and ePUB]

A PREQUEL of the Red Dog Conspiracy series.

From New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Patricia Loofbourrow.

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When her husband commits suicide, Eleanora Bryce faces prison for a crime she didn't commit.

In the far future domed city of Dickens, no mercy is given.

So when Eleanora Bryce finds her husband dead at his own hand, she finds herself trapped between the truth and his mountain of debt. When Eleanora refuses to speak with the constable investigating the case, he suspects her of murder.

Eleanora faces prison - or worse - unless she can find a way out of Dickens. But can she bear to return to the city which ruined her husband and murdered her son?

This is a PREQUEL to the Red Dog Conspiracy series.

You DO NOT have to read this book before reading the Red Dog Conspiracy.

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Patricia Loofbourrow’s Red Dog Conspiracy series is loved by over 60,000 fans of science fiction, hard-boiled noir mystery, and psychological crime thrillers from masters such as James S.A. Corey, Richard K. Morgan, and Michael Connelly.

"... Book Club worthy ..."

"... reminiscent of tales from the Depression ..."

"... I’m glad I read it ..."

"... enjoyable, captivating, detailed, well-written ..."

"I'll be reading more from this author."

"... reads like a novel and leaves you wanting more. Excellent."

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Enjoy a sample from Vulnerable:

Eleanora Bryce walked into her bedroom to find her husband dead.

He had excused himself an hour earlier, claiming he wished to read and pray in solitude before dinner. But he lay on the bed dressed in his best gray suit, the formerly full bottle of laudanum lying uncapped in his lax hand.

He must have taken it just after he left me, Eleanora thought. Why?

Later, she would berate herself for her lack of grief at his passing. But now, it was a detached mystery, points of interest which needed to be learned, studied.

A pile of papers, dry and unmarred, lay on the floor beside him. They told the story of debt, debt, and the impending ruin of his household.

The coward! For him to leave this for her to handle sent Eleanora into a fury. “May you find only Fire,” she whispered. What were they to do?

“Mother?”

Herbert stood at the door, his thin face — so close to manhood — curious, concerned. “Is Father well?”

Eleanora let out a breath. “Your father’s dead.”

For a moment, the way her son turned to the doorpost and wept moved her. His brother David rushed in, throwing himself upon his father’s body to howl in grief.

The empty bottle fell to the floor, rolled under the bed.

But no tears came.

Was she an unnatural woman, not to mourn this man?

She gazed at his lined face, his graying hair. He shared her bed these many years, gave her three children, brought her from impoverished whoredom to this comfortable home. If anyone would have asked before this moment, she would have said she loved him.

Yet no tears came.

Perhaps I’ll mourn him later, she thought. He was a good man. “Herbert, call for the constable.”

Herbert raised reddened eyes to hers, nodded, and left.

The sounds of David’s weeping filled the room.

Eleanora’s gaze fell upon the papers beside the bed. One had fallen away from the others. She picked it up, sat on the chair to read.

Insurance papers. Void if death by their own hand.

A sudden chill came over her. Did her husband mean to leave them with nothing? Or in his anguish, did he forget what his actions would do?

Footsteps: she let the paper drop to the floor, rising as several policemen came in. Their leader, a man her age with black hair, said, “I’m Constable Trey Highcard. What’s happened here?”

Eleanora felt as lost as Herbert looked. “I found him like this not five minutes ago.”

His men trod on her husband’s papers as they handed David to her. She sat, holding her son, his sobs subsiding as they rocked.

The constable said, “Dead, about an hour.”

After they left, she held her sons as they wept. They’d lived through so much already. “We’ll get through this,” she told them. “Never fear. We’ll find a way to survive.”

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