Blood River Witch

An Amazon Best Book of the Month

“Martinson’s writing is lyrical and evocative in a manner that fans of James Lee Burke will admire, rich in description of the beautiful Kentucky countryside and with a lyrical, almost biblical style . . . Blood River Witch is something of a throwback in an age of where the best sellers are domestic thrillers and glamorous espionage adventures, but it is no worse for that. Crime fiction is a broad church, and there will always be a place beautifully written novels rich in atmosphere and peopled with compelling, fully realised characters. I look forward to whatever TJ Martinson writes next.” —Michael Parker, Crime Fiction Lover

“Brimming with lush prose and dark images, Blood River Witch is a twisting tale that keeps the pages turning and the lights on well past bedtime.” —Shannon Glass, The Coachella Review

“Martinson expertly weaves elements of small-town rural suspicion, superstition, heinous crime, drama, and just the right dash of horror to craft a page-turning whodunit that is difficult to set aside once you start flipping those pages . . . Blood River Witch is a poetic, slow-burning descent into darkness that serves as a reminder that things are rarely as they seem, and the past is always capable of coming back around, and sometimes it’s found a way to sharpen its teeth while it hid. If you like your horror layered and complex, if you like being surprised and putting together pieces of the puzzle and meaning of what’s going on, then Blood River Witch needs to find a place on your TBR list.” —Dave Dreher, Gruesome Magazine

“[W]ell-built . . . The story is full of satisfying twists and turns.” —Publishers Weekly

“Tense and moody, Blood River Witch is a beautifully written, tightly plotted thriller I couldn’t put down. A smart rural noir full of occult mysteries, family secrets, and truly shocking twists, propelled by the horror of trying to reinvent yourself when the world has already decided who you are, this is T.J. Martinson’s best yet.” —Matt Bell, author of Appleseed

“Blood River Witch is a lyrical, deeply moving experience. T.J. Martinson accomplishes that most rare feat: he’s written a novel that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.” —S. A. Cosby, author of King of Ashes

“A spiral of dark secrets, shattered relationships, and occult-tinged murder, Blood River Witch is everything great about small-town noir. A twisty, haunting drama about the banality of evil, T.J. Martinson’s latest is impossible to put down.” —Matt Serafini, author of Feeders

“Stark, propulsive, and unforgiving, Blood River Witch asks what’s left of identity when the world has already decided what you are—and what kind of myth you can make of yourself when survival is the only law. Set in a town where memory ferments into violence, this is a novel about how the past stains the present and how women pay the price for crimes they didn’t commit but are never allowed to forget. Tense, atmospheric, and ferociously alive, Martinson’s novel proves that the most terrifying forces are not summoned—they’re inherited.” —Ivy Pochoda, author of Ecstasy