the Cinematic Rights to the first book in the series are available for $22K
WWW.CEREALNOVEL.COM - www.topdogsnovel.com
Two opposing and mutually-exclusive lives meet for just a moment at a time and in a place where one of them shouldn't be...
a story written for bones...
A thrilling, horrifying, and cautionary tale spun over the course of a career...
Heaven's Door, a Novel by J. Kilburn: crime fiction that's been called "heart-stopping" (InD'tale Magazine July/August 2020). Heaven's Door, a Novel is a bold, unique, cautionary tale about Organized Crime, a missing detective, and a Girl on the run. But this is no formula-fiction or "thriller" read: Heaven's Door is dark and daring literary fiction that defies genre expectations as it brings readers along on a shocking, lurid and gritty adventure inside a culture that is best visited from the safety of a favorite reading chair.
This story started twenty years ago with actual bones: human remains found by hunters in the bushes beside a quiet and pastoral Vermont road. Weathered and anonymous, the bones were the subject of news reports, gossip, and speculation for a few weeks until the skeleton was relegated to an evidence locker to languish and gradually fade from public view.
Those bones deserved better.
I brought those bones back into the light of day in a yarn spun from whole cloth but embroidered onto a tapestry of actual regional events. I gave these fallen bones family, friends, community. I gave them context, burdened them with conflict, awarded them heroism, introduced danger and finally, inevitably, brought them to a death. Best and worst of all, I gave these weathered bones loved ones who still wait and wonder, each and every day.
Heaven's Door, a Novel is the first in a series of books portraying events in the imagined life of those bones. I hope you'll take a look at it when you are in the mood for literary crime fiction with a dash of horror. And don't forget that there is a real person somewhere under this shroud of fiction... I hope I have done him justice.
J. Kilburn
We vote but once a year, while they must enforce the will of the people on a daily basis.
InD'tale magazine gives it four stars!
CLICK ON PHOTO to see the review in InD'tale Magazine!
Read this tale about Organized Crime, bikers, a missing detective and a Girl on the run in Montreal!
The first book in the saga is available right now for your E-reader or tablet, and there's even a Paperback Edition available from Amazon if you want to read the story on good old-fashioned paper!
Inspired by actual events and presenting a well-imagined, carefully-spun plot and well-developed characters, the story is woven into and against the backdrop of a very real and terrible gang war that occurred in Quebec in the 1990's,
A series about one young man's unexpected turn to a high-risk job in law enforcement.
A tale of international crime, wealth, depravity, and the big-city underworld .
A coming-of-age story starring small-town teens and everybody's favorite grandmother.
All of this, and more, in a book series that not only thrills and entertains, but also takes a deeper look: How did the characters become who they are? How did they get to that fateful moment in time where they must kill or be killed? How is it possible that one epic story about Organized Crime could star not only city-ruling outlaw bikers, but also college-town teens, an ECAC hockey player, a middle-aged university professor, and a bustling old farmhouse a hundred miles from anywhere? Maybe these diverse characters - and all of us - have more in common than you think.
Part thriller, part dark crime fiction, part bittersweet love story, part coming of age epic, and part police procedural, the Heaven's Door series is entertaining, shocking, thrilling, and cautionary. The characters in this series will have you re-thinking the line between Hardened Criminal and the Just Regular Kid next door - sometimes, the differences can be uncomfortably hard to discern.
CLICK ON PHOTO to see a review of HEAVEN'S DOOR in theJuly/August 2020Issue of InD'tale Magazine!
THE BOOKS IN the "heaven's door" crime fiction series:
Heaven's Door, a Novel
Of course there will be more - it's a series!
BEFORE, a Prequel - coming soon!
Dark and gritty crime fiction.
Two opposing and mutually-exclusive lives meet for just a moment at a time and in a place where one of them shouldn't be. The fallout of this moment leaves a woman on the run from Organized Crime, and takes readers on a frantic plunge into the dark streets and back alleys of a richly-described criminal underworld. Inspired by actual events, this shocking and terror-filled crime fiction plays out against a backdrop of bloody gang violence that spilled across Quebec in the 1990's - the Quebec Biker War. Novelist J. Kilburn brings readers to the dark side of seedy streets in this international tale of adventure, terror, and crime set in Montreal.
By its very nature, HEAVEN'S DOOR, A NOVEL by J. Kilburn is a story about depraved behavior: violent crime, Hedonism, commercialized sex, street-gang culture. It's NOT a story about ponies and rainbows and daisy-filled glades. This is a story about a dark and gritty world that's just down the block and around the corner from where the rainbow touches down. It's a world that is best visited from the safety of a favorite reading chair. Unlike the characters, readers can even put down the book and return to the genteel and safer world they normally inhabit.
J. Kilburn writes of and for people who do not have that luxury.
BEFORE, a Prequel - coming soon!
Of course there will be more - it's a series!
BEFORE, a Prequel - coming soon!
COMING SOON - BEFORE
By its very nature, HEAVEN'S DOOR, A NOVEL by J. Kilburn is a story about depraved behavior: violent crime, Hedonism, commercialized sex, street-gang culture. It's NOT a story about ponies and rainbows and daisy-filled glades. Heaven's Door is a story about a dark and gritty world that's just down the block and around the corner from where the rainbow touches down.
Would you rather visit those daisy-filled glades? Read BEFORE.
COMING SOON!
(the draft is in 4th editing and will go out as an ARC sometime this winter - stay tuned!)
In the novel BEFORE, writer J. Kilburn brings readers a light-hearted and whimsical coming of age story that follows the adventures and misadventures of Just Regular Kids as they come of age in a pastoral and peaceful New England college town. Buckle your seatbelts - all may not be as it seems. Events in a far away criminal underworld lurk in the background as these teenagers take their first steps into adulthood. Adventurous readers will discover that two Sweet Sixteens have a lot more in common with bad-ass bikers from Montreal than you - or they - might realize.... Surprises are in store for everyone!
Of course there will be more - it's a series!
Of course there will be more - it's a series!
Of course there will be more - it's a series!
The HEAVEN'S DOOR series:
Organized crime. Perfectly normal teenagers. Outlaw bikers. An undercover law enforcement operation. A marvelously imagined world of authentic characters brought to life against a backdrop of actual events - the Quebec Biker Wars. Meet the TOPDOGS Motorcycle Club, its members, their victims, and the police officers tasked with infiltrating and investigating the club. Laugh, love, cry, work, and play with those who wait for the undercover officers to return from the underworld.
HEAVEN'S DOOR at GOODreads
Heaven's Door, a Novel is on Goodreads! Add your own review on the Goodreads website!
Heaven's door, a novel - a riveting and lurid tale
Only $4.99 for the E-book... P-O-D PAPERBACK available from AMAZON.COM for $14.99 +S&H
SCROLL DOWN TO FIND LINKS TO "HEAVEN'S DOOR, A NOVEL" AT MANY OF YOUR FAVORITE ONLINE RETAILERS
"A SIX-HOUR READING MARATHON... I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!"
"IT'S DARK... SO DARK!" AS A MURDER TALE SHOULD BE!
"I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE AND MORE!"
INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW compares it to the Sons of Anarchy television series...