The latest novel from author Eric Douglas involves a mysterious murder cult brought to the United States to sow discord and terror.
Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against time to make sure no one else goes missing and stop the killer, or killers, before there is a nationwide panic.
Douglas explained that he became interested in this story while reading an out-of-print book by Mark Twain. Twain took an around-the-world speaking tour and told the story of the Thuggee, a group of thieves who traveled India killing and stealing. The group was wiped out by the British during the period of colonial rule.
“They killed their victims by strangulation using scarves they tied around their waists,” Douglas said.
From there, Douglas read “Confessions of a Thug” by Captain Philip Meadows Taylor. That book purports to be an interview with a Thuggee leader in prison. The book was written in the mid-1800s.
At that point, Douglas knew he wanted to use the Thuggee in a new book. He just needed a protagonist. Enter FBI Special Agent AJ West.
“I created AJ for my novel Water Crisis: Day Zero last year. That was the most recent of the Mike Scott thriller series. I enjoyed her character so much, I decided to spin her off into her own book,” Douglas said.
Douglas has been writing fiction since his first novel, Cayman Cowboys, was published in 2004. This is his 19th book, including a combination of fiction and nonfiction.
Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder is available on Amazon Kindle and in softcover wherever books are sold. For more information on Real Thugs, or any of Douglas’ other books, visit his website at BooksByEric.com.