Killing Streak

What if you stopped killing and found yourself capable of love?

Evan Markham is rich, handsome, and pissed that someone left a dead body in the guest house of his Colorado estate. Evan’s wife, Corie, called the cops when she found her friend murdered. A perfectly normal reaction. And one that unwittingly puts her husband at risk.

Because Evan has a past he doesn’t want his wife—or the police—to find out about. Denver Homicide Detective Jack Fariel has a past too . . . with Evan’s wife. Jack is dealing with some major health issues and doesn't need a load of guilty memories from his past.

Evan is a complex man, husband, and killer of a unique kind. Jack’s focus and tenacity makes him a killer’s worst nightmare. Both men must unravel a web of deceit, murder, lost love, and regret to uncover the truth.

With complex, fully developed characters, the reader will end up sympathizing with the hunter as well as the hunted. A serial killer finds himself capable of love, and it’s his downfall. A detective finds himself haunted and ultimately rescued by the past. Killing Streak is a dark, psychological thriller that shows both the destructive and redemptive aspects of love.

Set in Denver, Killing Streak has more twists and turns than a Rocky Mountain road has switchbacks and the Colorado weather becomes, almost, another character.

Gripping, fast-paced, with a complex plot, fans of J.A Jance, James Patterson, and Harlan Coben will enjoy Killing Streak.

Killing Streak is the winner of the 2015 Colorado Independent Publisher’s Association EVVY Award and a Quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. It's the first in a series featuring Denver homicide detective Jack Fariel.

Praise for Killing Streak

“A thriller about old family secrets, bondage and murder.

The Fariel chapters are confidently written, and Clark paints a convincing portrait of the Denver Police Department in action. Fariel doesn’t have a futuristic crime lab or Sherlockian insights; he just does good police work that’s fun to follow.”
(Kirkus Reviews)

“Evan Markham has it all – beautiful wife, a new house in a neighborhood of million-dollar homes, and a successful consulting business. Or is he a Jekyll and Hyde figure who, as his wife, Corie, may come to find out, is into deadly sex games? The first crack in Evan’s carefully crafted and controlled life comes with the murder of Brice Shaughnessy, one of Corie's friends. From here, the author crafts a suspenseful thriller that begins with homicide Detective Jack Fariel’s investigation into Brice’s murder, which leads him to Corie—his former high school crush. As Jack gets closer to finding the answers needed to solve the case, he also becomes aware of unsolved murders that coincided with Evan’s constant travel, revealing that he was not focused solely on business while on the road. A web of deceit, murder, lost love, and regret, coupled with more than a few surprising twists, and sprinkled with a psycho killer or two, make for a better than average serial-killer thriller.”
(Publishers Weekly)

“Graphic, mesmerizing and fearless writing”
(Donnell Ann Bell, author of The Past Came Hunting & Deadly Recall)

“Merit Clark's debut novel is a dark delight. She builds the tension until it becomes intolerable
and releases it in a climax that not only satisfies, it satiates. The blood in this story runs hotter than the sex, and the sex sizzles.”
(Harlen Campbell, author of Sea of Deception, Monkey on a Chain & Jennifer's Weave)

Amazon reader reviews:
"Unpredictable, gripping. It took over my life, I couldn't put it down and leave it alone."

"I took it on vacation and rationed out the last 100 pages because I didn't want it to end and I didn't want to finish it so fast! The novel is well thought out, the plot twists are great, it's graphic but only in ways that draw you into the characters even more."

"I can't remember the last time I stayed up really late so I could finish a book."