The Excursion

ESCAPE WAS NEVER AN OPTION
"The end blew my mind. I did not see that coming. . ." ★★★★★ - Readers' Favorite

Charly Highsmith is a survivor. Abandoned by her parents, she spent her teens looking after her autistic brother on the bitter streets of Denver, Colorado, with nothing but a jacket and a backpack.

But things are better now. Charly and Jacob live in a two-bedroom apartment near a mall, and with the passing of their long-lost father, they've inherited a cabin high in the Rocky Mountains. Charly's eager to go there. Relive the good times she had as a child, running through the forest with Jacob and her cousins.

Amanda the Overachiever. Cam the Recluse.

But when they arrive, the cabin isn't empty.

Barry the Millionaire. Kennedy the Social Media Magnet. Randall the Hunter.
Standing by the fireplace, Charly sees that look in her neurodivergent brother's eyes. There are too many people. He's going to run. He's going to burst into the unforgiving snowstorm, sprint around the frozen lake, and hide in the forest like he did when they were young.

So much for reliving the good times.

Randall the Hunter goes to the window. Opens the curtains. The blizzard rages outside. He says no one is leaving. He says nothing will stop the hunt. Nothing will stop the excursion.

"The Excursion promises a one-way ticket on an obsessive journey that is creepy, compelling, and wholly consuming." ★★★★★ - Indies Today

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T.O. Paine writes award-winning psychological and crime thrillers that keep you up all night. Some of it comes from imagination. Some of it comes from the four years his family spent inside a cult — an experience that lends his fiction an unsettling authenticity readers can feel.

His novels, including The Teaching, The Abduction, and The Crisis, have been honored by the Chanticleer Global Thriller Awards, Literary Titan, BookLife, and Readers' Favorite. He is a member of International Thriller Writers, the Crime Writers' Association, and Sisters in Crime, and holds a master's degree in computer information systems.

When he isn't writing, Paine is usually running — he has finished a marathon in all fifty states and is working through all fifty a second time, and he has survived an IRONMAN, twice. He lives in Colorado with his wife and shares his office with two rescue dogs he calls his muses. Chaz, a pampered cocker spaniel with strong opinions about cookies, and Muñeca, a street dog he brought home from Mexico who, he swears, keeps the bad people in his books away from him so he can write.

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