Canada’s Rio Youers is the critically acclaimed author of five novels, short fiction, and two comic series. His books include Westlake Soul, The Forgotten Girl, Halcyon, and Lola on Fire; these titles have earned him nominations for the British Fantasy, Sunburst, and Arthur Ellis Awards. His newest standalone novel of suspense, No Second Chances, is…
My new novel, No Second Chances, is a full-throttle action thriller set in modern-day Los Angeles. It tells the story of Luke Kingsley, a canceled actor who is believed to have killed his wife, and Kitty Rae, an effervescent young woman who has arrived in Hollywood in pursuit of her dreams. These colorful protagonists soon…
Lola on Fire by Rio Youers combines vengeance and deceit, love and bullets, and secrets and twists in this high-octane action thriller with a vibrant emotional core that sees a desperate brother caught in a dangerous world that he and his sister must battle to survive. Brody Ellis is desperate. He’s 24 and has no…
Halcyon by Rio Youers is a horror thriller about a cult-like community run by the enigmatic and terrifying Mother Moon. Rio Youers’s Halcyon is a hybrid novel that brings together some of the best elements of psychological thrillers and action narratives and mixes them with a healthy dose of the paranormal, emotional grit, and a scathing…
What do you do when you find yourself mixed up with a cult-like community on an isolated island run by a charming but terrifying leader? Drink the punch with this week’s Pick Your Poison—where we create a cocktail inspired by a recently published mystery, thriller, or crime novel—the “Mother Moon” cocktail, inspired by Rio Youers’s horror-thriller Halcyon!…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, Linda Castillo’s 10th Kate Burkholder novel combines with a thrilling debut from Ellison Cooper to highlight a crazy week of books!…
Mick Jagger sings that a storm is threatening, that a fire is sweeping, that war is just a shot away. The lyrics to “Gimme Shelter” were penned in 1969 in response to the Vietnam War and to an altogether troubling era in the world’s history. It’s a political song and a very dark song. Apocalyptic,…
Halcyon by Rio Youers is a horror thriller about a cult-like community run by the enigmatic and terrifying Mother Moon. Halcyon is the answer for all Americans who want to escape, but paradise isn’t what it seems. A beautiful island in the middle of Lake Ontario―a self-sustaining community made up of people who want to live…
I’ve been friends with Rio Youers for a while and a fan of his work since I read his brilliant fantasy novel Westlake Soul, which is a masterclass in all the things that a story told from the first-person point of view should do. I greatly admire Rio’s restlessness. He’s a very funny man, but…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! A lost James Bond-inspired novel from Donald Westlake and a new James Bourne thriller by Eric Van Lustbader highlight a great…
