The Garden Girls is a psychological thriller/crime thriller by Jessica R Patch that follows Tiberius Granger who works for the Strange Crimes Unit, and this case leads them to the Outer Banks where a disturbing killer is collecting women and imprisoning them in cages.
Why does Jessica R Patch write such macabre stories?
I’ve been asked this repeatedly and it’s a great question! I never tire of it. The Garden Girls is about how the enemy often masquerades as an angel of light. What he offers is packaged pretty. He’s pretty. And once we’re hooked, he imprisons us. Evil isn’t always in red horns with a pitchfork. That kind of evil we’d run from. It’s the pretty we fall for. The seemingly innocent. And that’s what this is about.
My villain is dark but masquerading as light. And yes, it’s disturbing in some chapters. I don’t shy away from the super dark stuff—I’m not super graphic either. I know how to give enough detail that you fill in the blanks and that’s what probably is most chilling—your own imagination! But the reason I don’t sugarcoat or just create villains who shoot at you is because the world is a very dark place. Hearts are dark—including yours and mine. Jeremiah tells us the heart is the most deceptive and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Not us. But God.
God doesn’t sanitize Scripture
In God’s story, He doesn’t sanitize it. He doesn’t edit out the disturbing, uncomfortable details. He doesn’t approve of it. Nor does he endorse it. If you don’t believe me, just read the book of Judges and see what God’s chosen people are doing—how far they’ve fallen. How depraved they’ve become. Rapes. Mutilation. Murder. It’s all in just one story involving a man’s concubine. And while it’s hard to read, it always reminds me of my own dark heart. And the potential I have (and you) to become just like God’s people. The hopeful part is that God uses these severely broken, flawed people to accomplish His redemptive purposes. That means He uses me and you too!
Set free
This story isn’t just a shocking villain doing shocking things. It’s about cages that imprison us and it’s about Jesus opening them up and setting us free. It’s about sacrificial love and surrendering a life to God. And sometimes it takes hurricane force to do it—as in Tiberius Granger’s case. Being raised in a cult will do that to a person. Being raised in a legalistic church can do that to you. Turn you off to the things of God. To relationship. To truth. But God doesn’t give up. He does, however, allow a storm to come to set your straight. And that’s what this book is really about.
You can’t bloom in a cage. You’re planted and rooted in Christ.
Check out The Garden Girls by Jessica R Patch
On a remote Outer Banks island, a serial killer collects his prized specimens. And to stop him, an FBI agent must confront his own twisted past.
FBI agent Tiberius Granger has seen his share of darkness. But a new case sets him on edge. It’s not just the macabre way both victims—found posed in front of lighthouses—are tattooed with flowers that match their names. There’s also the unsettling connection to the woman Ty once loved and to the shadowy cult they both risked everything to escape.
Bexley Hemmingway’s sister has gone missing, and she’ll do anything to find her—including teaming up with Ty. That may prove a mistake, and not just because Ty doesn’t know he’s the father of her teenaged son. It seems the killer is taunting Ty, drawing everyone close to him into deeper danger.
As the slashing winds and rain of a deadly hurricane approach the coast of North Carolina, the search leads Ty and Bex to an island that hides a grisly secret. But in his quest for the truth, Ty has ignored the fact that this time, he’s not just the hunter. Every move has been orchestrated by a killer into a perfect storm of terror, and they will need all their skills to survive…
Buy on Amazon CA, Amazon COM, Barnes and Noble, Harlequin
Follow Jessica R Patch online
Facebook Page Facebook Readers Group, BookBub @jessicarpatch, Instagram @jessicarpatch
Monthly Newsletter: Patched In (plus a free book if you subscribe)