E-books > Mudwoman, the novel

This thriller keeps you on the edge of your seat, as Alan and Linda fight for their lives.

10. That Linda is one tough lady--don't mess with her!
9. This book takes you on an action-packed trip that will have you on the edge of your seat.
8. Knowing this story makes you a more interesting person
7. The book is fast-paced.
6. The book is easy to understand, but delves into advanced concepts that are intriguing.
5. You will enjoy it
4. Sometimes, you just need to escape..
3. Having it in electronic form is awfully convenient!
2. You don't want others to accuse you of being so cheap you wouldn't spend a few bucks on an entertaining book.

and the number one reason to buy this course and learn this material...

1. You owe it to yourself to read this story, to experience its suspense, and to sweat it out while Linda hunts down the people who nearly killed her. What happens along the way? Find out!

Mudwoman is a full-length mystery novel. Near the end of a long car trip, the rain lets up. Alan Bowers slams on his brakes when his headlights catch the figure of a woman. She is in shock, disoriented, nude, and covered in mud. The only thing she says is, "Help me."

When Alan attempts to bring her to the hospital, a pickup truck nearly runs him off the road. Shortly thereafter, the hospital provides the woman (Linda Baxter) with clothes and releases her to go with the police. When the police take Alan and Linda to the place where Alan found her, they follow her tracks back into the woods, where they discover a pit in which Linda had been buried. They find the remains of what must have been several hundred pounds of ice.

Then they visit the spot where Linda was jogging -- the last thing she remembers doing before climbing out of the pit. There, the police find tire tracks matching those of the vehicle that nearly ran Alan's car off the road.

Alan takes Linda to her apartment, and a locksmith lets her in. Linda's heart stops when she finds her jogging shoes, shorts, and top neatly folded. She finds her home office ransacked. Linda begins to reveal a glimpse of her past, a past she wants to forget. Why the line of demarcation in Linda's life? She was a professional killer, in a special military unit. Now she and another woman are partners in an engineering firm, and she likes the peaceful life.

With the discovery that her abductor rummaged through her home office, she fears both she and her partner Debbie are in danger. When she and Alan visit the police department and then the coroner, they hit on the connection: Linda survived abduction by a serial killer. The last person to fit the pattern was found with her uterus missing. And her skin was frostbitten in the middle of summer -- ice! Linda's new job: go door to door in selected neighborhoods of possible suspects, disguised as a salesperson.

Linda visits her psychiatrist, Dr. Jenkins, who deals with her trauma by saying men are concerned with penis size and women are fixated on breast size. He angers her by insisting this is the root of her problems, and dismisses her "mudwoman" story as something she fabricated. He tells her she is unwilling to date, because of this, and she reminds him of what she went through in the Marine Corps, and they are the ones who paid for her engineering degree. Again, he dismisses her as being sexually hung up. He ends the session by making a pass at her.

The abductor, Pete, is an idiot savant. When Linda comes to his neighborhood, he recognizes her. He tricks her into getting out of view of the police van, and -- through trickery -- renders her unconscious and then binds her hands and feet. He destroys the wire she is wearing. He is not used to being in the company of a woman, so he takes his time with Linda and becomes fascinated with her. He comes to the realization he must free her, and agrees to do so as soon as the sun is down. Though she is locked in this man's house until sunset, she feels she has reached deep within him. Unfortunately, this is when Pete's masters show up. They administer a drug that knocks Linda out, then they take her to the airport in a wheelchair. When she comes to, she finds herself an unwilling employee of a brothel. The second time customers visit her room, she kills all three of them, using a crude weapon she fashioned after the first visit. She escapes onto the streets of Singapore. There, she assaults a policeman, gaining both a weapon and some money.

Meanwhile, Pete defies orders and flies to Singapore to try to rescue Linda. Alan and Debbie find Pete's house, and they find a copy of his travel itinerary in his trash. Shortly after that, Linda finds a print shop and sends a fax to Debbie. All four people converge in Singapore, and Pete reveals the existence of a child prostitution ring, run by the same people who'd flown Linda to Singapore. The ring is headed by Yamamoto. Alan and Debbie convince Linda to go back to the United States, and Pete insists on escorting her. Alan and Debbie arrange to assist the local police for a short time. At the airport, a group of men attack Debbie, and Pete dies trying to protect her. She escapes, discovers Alan and Debbie were tricked and taken captive. She finds them and together they escape to the United States, home to Yamamoto.

The investigation is rapid and fraught with danger. Clues, deadends, new clues, one lead barely tied to another, and a lot of legwork lead Linda and Alan to their ultimate goal. But it's not an easy road to run. Moves and countermoves characterize both sides. The pace becomes almost dizzying as Linda and Alan close in. Capture, rescue, escape, and pursuit follow one after another, until the final fatal showdown with Yamamoto. Who is Yamamoto? None other than the wife of Linda's psychiatrist. Yamamoto's true insanity make for a grisly climax to the action. In the end, Linda and Alan prevail. The book closes thusly:

Linda put her head on Alan’s shoulder, and put her hand inside his shirt.

"Alan?"

"Yes, dear mudwoman?"

"Do you think we can have children? I’d like to get started right away."

"Little mudchildren. Sounds wonderful. What brought this on?"

"I think you’ll like the pitter-patter of muddy little feet."