Dark Places

In a place so harsh that survivalis a struggle, one man has found the strength to kill ...

Paul Wood is a modern vagabond, a man who chooses to leave the comforts of San Francisco to spend months backpacking through some of the world's most challenging terrain: Cameroon, Indonesia, Nepal. While hiking in the Himalayas, Paul gets more of a rush than he bargained for when he finds the body of a murdered hiker, the victim mutilated in a way that Paul has witnessed once before, years ago and thousands of miles away.

To quell a scandal, the police rule the death a suicide and close the case. But Paul can't let it go. A man who has traveled through the thin air at the top of the world and across land mines in war zones, he is not easily discouraged. But his newest expedition will show him some of the darkest places imaginable, in both the terrain he navigates and the men he encounters. Finding the killer becomes Paul's new obsession — a journey that leads him dangerously close to the edge ... and maybe over it.

"In this haunting suspense debut, Evans takes the reader on a page-turning adventure across five continents in search of a gruesome serial killer who has been targeting travelers in Third World nations. Paul Wood, a San Francisco computer programmer and rugged budget backpacker, is hiking in the Himalayas when he stumbles upon a mutilated corpse with a Swiss army knife plunged into each eye. This is a freakish coincidence: Paul discovered the body of his then girlfriend mysteriously murdered in much the same way two years before in remote central Africa. Finding that even more murders seem to fit the eerie pattern, he begins his own investigation with the help of a (poorly developed) Bosnian love interest named Talena. Eventually joined by his backpacking friends from the fateful trip through central Africa, he decides to take justice into his own hands. Entertaining (but totally implausible) plot twists will keep readers guessing through the book's bone-chilling buildup and brutal climax, while slangy, conversational prose will make it easy to fly through the pages. But secondary characters are often flat and unrealistic, and Paul's vigilante bravado and world-traveler cockiness won't be to everyone's taste. Agent, Deborah Schneider. (June) Forecast: Readers may not want to crack this in their dark youth hostel bunks, but budget travelers will recognize the world Evans paints and should respond well to his spooky, inventive tale." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

A blend of Greg Iles and John Krakauer, this debut novel follows the adventures of a backpacker whose adventure in Nepal is interrupted when he encounters the body of a murdered hiker, a sight he finds all the more traumatic because he has seen the killer's unique handiwork before--a continent away.

Jon Evans has backpacked through some of the most remote and exotic places on Earth, including China, Japan, Indoensia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, New Guinea, India, Nepal, and the Balkans. In between treks, he has worked for Internet and software industry. He is currently working on his next novel while travelling through parts unknown.