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On The Table Read, “the best book magazine in the UK“, SM Thomas releases new thriller, The Diseased, about a protagonist struggling with amnesia as she searches for her missing husband.
In S M Thomas’s The Diseased, Paige Hanson, a brilliant scientific researcher is involved in an accident. Since then, her husband Leo is nowhere to be found. As the police start considering Paige’s involvement in his disappearance, she turns to the three women in her life to help make sense of everything, including the one person she’s spent her life running from – her murderous mother.
The Diseased grabs your attention from the off, with its protagonist’s amnesia and all traces of her missing husband being removed from their home by government agents.
A remarkably accomplished thriller novel, the author has pulled out all the stops as she delivers suspense and intrigue in spades. But it’s in the characterisation of Paige and the three women integral to her life – her friend, mother-in-law and mother – that SM Thomas really shines. With their backstories running in parallel with the narrative, the complex and multifarious relationship between Paige and her mother becomes centre stage as she struggles against childhood memories – memories that could help bring Leo back to her.
Whilst weaving the mysteries around Paige and Leo’s disappearance the author takes the opportunity to highlight social issues that face our current society under the guise of laws a dystopian Government has imposed on its citizens. The Repopulation Act, for example, that only allows cisgender heterosexual couples to raise a family being a key one that Paige, and those around her, fight against as best they can.
When ‘The Disease’ itself is unleashed upon the citizens of Earth Two parallels are drawn between the way the Government of Earth Two handles this and the way Governments around the world responded to the very real Covid-19 and the failings they caused along the way.
Ticking all the boxes and more for what makes a good thriller, The Diseased will appeal to both men and women (and particularly females aged over 25 who have experienced love, loss and all the ups and downs life has to offer).Once read, this is one of those books that stays with you, and a book you’ll find yourself recommending time and time again.
Paige Hanson wakes up to a question that turns her stomach; “Where is your husband?”
As she struggles to grasp the wisps of memories returning to her, she begins to realise that there’s so much more at stake than just Leo’s whereabouts.
With no other leads in their investigation, the State turns on Paige, painting her as the number one suspect in her husband’s disappearance.
She’s left with no choice but to turn towards the teachings of the one person she swore never to become in order to prove her innocence and, along the way, begins to realise that some questions are best left unanswered.
SM Thomas: or Steph as she’s more often known, is a thirty-five-year-old mother of two who resides in the, sometimes sunny, area of Somerset, England. She’s always had a very keen interest in reading and writing and made the decision in 2018 to self-publish her first book, The Light.
In 2019,Stephset to work on The Diseased but it had to languish to the side for a while whilst she finished publishing the second part of The Light.
Picking the idea back up in 2020(with time on her hands due to the national lockdown),Steph completed the first draft of Paige’s story and decided to begin investigating how she could set up her own independent publishing house. In 2022, A R Hurne Publishing was born, and although it’s not currently in a position to accept any submissions, Steph has ambitions to open the floodgates and support another author on their publishing journey despite the hurdles currently at work to try and restrict independent authors out of the traditional market.
Published by AR Hurne Publishing on 2nd September 2022, The Diseased is available in paperback (£8.99 – ISBN: 978-1-7396769-1-9) and e-book format (£1.99 – ISBN: 978-1-7396769-0-2) to pre-order on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3uhX6vr
The paperback is also available at Waterstones and Foyles and the e-book at other retailers and an audio book will be available in October 2022.
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