[Asylum Chronicles 01] • Shades of Eva

Mitchell Rennix, an alcoholic drifter running from a troubled past, is confronted by a Gulf War veteran turned private investigator (Amelia Hawkins). Amelia claims to have information about Mitchell’s missing brother, and a rape that Mitchell’s mother (Eva McGinnis) may have suffered as a teenager while institutionalized at the Coastal State Psychiatric Asylum. Faced with the possibility of locating his missing brother and understanding the reasons why his mother was committed, Mitchell reluctantly agrees to return home. But as he moves deeper into the mystery surrounding his mother’s past, a move that involves infiltrating the very Asylum into which she once resided and meeting his mother’s first love, he is inevitably forced to revisit a time he might have been safer to forget.

Inspired by true events, Shades of Eva is a mind-bending romp through the darkside of human curiosity, and the lighter side of vengeance. Rich in sentiment, heavy laden with noir, this novel is an ode to our missing persons and those whose lives were cut short by mental illness, as well as to those of us grieving in the still of their collective absence. To our Troops returning from the Wars, Shades of Eva is a welcome home. May we remember as much as we can. We owe that to those who can remember no more.