…To bring back the dead homeless man they’d kidnapped and brutally beaten to a pulp in the guesthouse that resides on the Bradfield residence.
They want him brought back not because they're scared of getting caught for his murder, but so they can savagely beat and murder him again…
…and again…
Something is in search of human prey in the gang-ridden communities of Los Angeles…
When the member of a notorious street gang is found decapitated and dismembered at the bottom of the LA River, it quickly becomes apparent something is amiss. Detective Daryl Garcia connects it with the murders of six other gang members killed in the same way. It looks like the work of a serial killer, but the gang members don’t think so. They believe the murders are the work of rival gang members.
Someone has a dark desire of the most depraved fetish…
Detective Garcia becomes determined to find the killer at any cost. Together with Rachael Pearce, a journalist he falls in love with, he searches for the killer through the gang underground and the world of prostitution and drugs. And as suspect after suspect is released with no solid evidence to connect them to the crimes, the search for the killer becomes more urgent as the gang-infested areas of the city reach a boiling point to the brink of rioting. In a community of gang members — who are killers themselves — how does Detective Garcia find the most monstrous killer he has ever encountered?
Madness wears many faces…
Jim Cornell used to believe in God.
But when things went bad — his daughter getting cancer, his layoff from his well-paying job, the strain of his marriage — he began to have no use for God anymore.
When Jim’s forced into a situation that will require his participation in another man’s murder, his faith will be tested. Because while Jim used to believe in God, he’d never given that much thought to the Devil.
Now he’s going to have to. Because, like it or not, Jim is involved with people who have a deep religious faith, too.
Jim is about to discover that where there is light, there must be darkness. There’s more than one kind of religious faith and his is about to be put to the ultimate test.
Acknowledgements
Much of this novel was written while I was working a full-time job in the IT world as a Web Designer/Technical Writer/Database Administrator, but I drew on my entire past employment in the corporate world for much of it’s background. I’d like to take the time now to thank some of those people who were instrumental in its support and development.
My thanks to Larry Roberts for publishing this novel in its original limited edition; my thanks also go to Gilbert Schloss, Don D’Auria, and Shane Ryan Staley who provided support by buying (and publishing) other projects during the stages The Corporation went through numerous drafts. Steve Calcutt gets credit for repping me during this period. Special acknowledgement must be made to Julia Atkins, who provided the cover illustration for this new edition and provided much-needed assistance on the overall cover design. Special thanks to Mike Lombardo for providing the introduction.
Dori Miller gets credit for helping me with research and for sharing her own corporate horror stories from her years in the trenches. She also provided pre-reader feedback on an early draft of this bad boy, along with Todd Clark, Bob Strauss, and Jamie LaChance.
Brian and Cassi Keene, Bob Ford, David Nordhaus, Gord Rollo, Gene O’Neill, Jamie LaChance, Todd Clark, Bob Strauss, Gary Zimmerman, Dori, Michael Laimo, Geoff Cooper, and Ken Atkins provided safe havens from the madness of both this novel and the corporate world.
Ramona Pearce, Salpy Manjikian, Matt Thompson, Ken Atkins, Jeremiah Brown, and Bob “Isn’t That Neat!” Fegley, were like-minded allies in the corporate worlds that inspired much of this novel.
Cathy and Hannah Gonzalez get their own paragraph because they deserve it.
While this novel is completely fictitious and my original intention in writing it was to provide hours of bizarre and (I hope) suspenseful entertainment, I could not help but be drawn to some of the underlying themes that crept into the narrative. For a look at the truly scary, I direct you to the Mark Achbar/Jennifer Abbott documentary film The Corporation (2003), or the Human Resources Department of any large corporation.
Copyright
No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored into or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other means now known or yet to be invented) without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed are either fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events and individuals is coincidental. This book is sold as is and neither the publisher, nor the author, will be responsible for any direct or consequential damages that may arise from the misuse of the information within.
A Signed Limited First edition of this book was previously published by MorningStar Press.
The Corporation © 2010 by J. F. Gonzalez
Cover Illustration and Design © 2012 by Julia Atkins
All rights reserved
Midnight Library
Lititz, PA