Premonition
Cary Mackin Book 1
Wendy Whitman
Post Hill Press
July 13th, 2021
Premonition is Wendy Whitman’s debut novel. Wendy uses her vast experience as an executive and producer for Court TV and HLN, covering almost every major high-profile murder case in America for over twenty years. As a crime and murder expert she has decided to put that knowledge together and write a fictional psychological thriller.
“I worked for Court TV and the Nancy Grace Show for over twenty years. I thought about writing a non-fiction book about a crime or the legal system but decided to write this fictional story instead. My opinions were expressed through the main character’s thoughts.”
A word of warning is that at times there is a lot of violence and gruesomeness, with the ending left up in the air for the sequel. One interesting fact is that the story showed how guns do not kill, people do. In this case the weapon of choice, the tool used, was a car.
“Cary is loosely based on myself. What we have in common is supporting victim’s rights since many times they get over-looked and lost in the shuffle. We also share the same fear of being murdered. Having grown up in New York I heard on the news about all these murders. It scared me to death. I wanted this story to be a tribute to victim rights. Cary’s dog, Obi, is based on my real-life dog who died in 2019. Obi was a Newfoundland dog who was smart, the love of my life. We had an incredible bond that I tried to show with Cary and her Obi.”
Cary Mackin is a TV journalist who has covered crime for nearly twenty years. After losing her job she moves to a small town in Connecticut. Here, she gets caught up in the web of a deranged serial killer. To make matters worse, Cary has a dark secret that drives everything she does, a premonition, a fear, that one day she will be murdered. Realizing this killer is targeting children and animals she is determined to deploy her extraordinary investigative and forensic skills to track down the sadistic, serial murderer before he strikes again.
“I wrote Cary as judgmental, obsessive-compulsive, having a phobia that haunted and controlled her. She struggles to have healthy relationships with people. Obi gave her peace and serenity she did not get from those in her life. She can be compassionate, funny, socially awkward, and klutzy.”
Interestingly, the author intertwines some real-life cases within the plot. “Some of the cases covered included Kitty Genovese, a young women stabbed to death in front of witnesses; Charles Whitman who killed sixteen people and injured thirty-one others; and Neil Entwistle who killed his wife and infant daughter.”
The prevalent theme is that people should be held responsible for their actions. “We live in a dangerous world. People need to be aware of that and take precautions. Murder victims need to be remembered. There are cases that never get the media’s attention. Often in trials the victims are not there. The focus is on those alive like the detectives. One reason the victims get lost is because there is no personalizing who they were.”
Readers will have to wait until the next book comes out to see more of the killer’s motivations and Cary’s backstory.
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