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Picking Murphys
Why Read Picking Murphys?
A supernatural–psychological horror about a fractured family, a cross-country escape that isn’t, and an ancient malice that learns as it hunts. Fathers and sons try to start over; the past keeps better maps.
A Teaser
From Connecticut to California, something watches—patient, adaptive, nameless. It studies distraction the way others study scripture, then moves in when no one’s looking.
Matthew heads west to reset his life: new land in the hills near Murphys, CA; mining rights; a chance to be the father Robbie deserves. But the road doesn’t wash the blood off—evil travels, too. Every choice, every detour, every “accident” nudges them toward the same patch of earth, as if the destination chose them first.
As their lives—and the lives orbiting them—begin to fray, an older couple follows the disturbance like storm chasers. The chase becomes a catechism: hunter, hunted, and the thing that refuses to be either.
Description
Picking Murphys threads family drama with the slow encroachment of the uncanny. Matthew wants redemption. Robbie wants a dad he can trust. The Sierra foothills promise both—and deliver the opposite. The presence that dogs them isn’t theatrical; it’s meticulous. It learns their patterns, wears their faces, and sets scenes that look like coincidence until they don’t. What begins as a relocation becomes a reckoning with inheritance, grief, and the cost of ignoring the quiet voice that says turn back.
Excerpts (Curated Moments)
1) The Voice on the Page
An unnamed narrator addresses the reader directly—intimate, mocking, omniscient—inviting them to “open your mind” while predicting their clothes and their fear. It’s not breaking the fourth wall; it’s stepping through it.
2) Betty’s Mirror
In a scene that blurs compulsion, shame, and visions of death, Betty’s loss of control becomes a conduit. Pleasure and pain split into image and echo—faces of the dead flicker beneath closed eyes, and waking offers no rescue.
3) Jack at the Door
A man believed dead stands where he shouldn’t, speaking calmly as if the grave were a misunderstanding. Marge measures sanity against bruises that weren’t there a moment ago. Gravity changes its mind.
4) The Antique Show
Lucy limps through fluorescent aisles and falls in love with a vintage jewelry box—a totem, a trigger. Desire turns predatory; the object changes hands; the air tilts. Some artifacts are bought. Some choose.
Themes & Triggers (Reader Advisory)
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Family fracture, grief, and manipulation
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Supernatural stalking / invasive presence
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Violence, psychological coercion, disturbing imagery
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Meta-horror: the story seeing you back
Fun Facts
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Murphys, CA—the real Gold Country setting—anchors the book’s “new start” myth, then bends it.
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The direct-address passages were designed as a dare to the reader: keep going, or look away.
Some Reviews
“Okay this book is not for the faint of heart… downright creepy and at times quite disturbing.”
— Jesse
“I didn’t expect to be so sucked into this world… I will probably have nightmares!”
— Cody
“An intriguing, unforgettable, action-packed beginning—and it just keeps going.”
— Nicole
“One of the most creepy, original, well-crafted novels I’ve read in a long time.”
— Stacy
“Haunting and engrossing… edge of your seat, hiding beneath the covers, and wanting more.”
— Cale
Published: February 15, 2016