Phantom Instinct

Author Essay

In Phantom Instinct, two wounded warriors must work together to catch a killer. A killer who wants them dead, and who will cut down innocent bystanders to get to them.

The problem: nobody else believes he exists.

Harper Flynn survived a shootout at the club where she was a bartender, but couldn’t save her boyfriend. L.A. Sheriff’s detective Aiden Garrison was severely injured trying to stop the attack. A year later, Harper and Aiden are trying to rebuild their lives. But both of them are certain that the shooter who led the attack got away. The cops have closed the case. But Harper and Aiden are convinced that a killer escaped, and that he will kill again.

To catch him, they have to work with each other. But there’s another problem: they don’t trust each other.

Harper has been hiding her past. She’s not just a Navy veteran—she’s an ex-thief. Maybe she isn’t the hero Aiden thought she was. Maybe she has a secret agenda.

Aiden has his own problems. During the attack he sustained a traumatic brain injury. It has resulted in a rare kind of face blindness. Fregoli Syndrome causes the mistaken belief that the person you’re looking at is actually somebody else in disguise. Now, at unpredictable moments, Aiden thinks he sees the shooter coming after him… when it’s actually a friend, or a colleague, or a passerby. The Sheriff’s Department no longer trusts him. Can Harper? After all, Aiden can no longer trust his own eyes.

The more Harper and Aiden learn about the shootout, the more dangerous things get. The more they’re drawn to each other. And the more each of them fears that the other might betray them.

They have to choose whether to trust their hearts and their instincts. Because the killer is closing in, and there’s not much time before he puts Harper and Aiden—and those they love—in the line of fire.