A dark and startling psychological thriller.
Available June 1, 2023
WHAT IF YOU SUSPECTED YOUR ADORING SPOUSE MURDERED YOUR FIRST HUSBAND?
Skye and Thomas Westbrooke’s wedding is a celebration like no other. Eagle Bay’s beloved widow marries the dashing businessman and philanthropist of the renowned Westbrooke dynasty. After years of a loving union, Thomas’s behavior grows bizarre. Then, shocking. But he’s got money, power, and a stellar reputation, so will the Eagle Bay community believe Skye’s claims of betrayal and wicked deeds?
Trapped in a husband’s web of deceit and deflecting public scorn for tarnishing the Westbrooke legacy, another woman might relent and accept her fate. But Skye is stronger than Thomas realizes and will fight like hell to protect her family from the brilliant and cunning man she believes is a killer. This gripping and emotional drama will keep you up too late, even after its startling conclusion.
Eagle Bay Reviews
Cruickshank sets this multi-generational thriller in a small Oregon town where the Westbrooke family has long wielded power over its neighbors. Despite his cold and tyrannical father’s rep as a ruthless businessman, Thomas Westbrooke, single and focused on his career in the family firm, is lucky to call the solidly middle-class John McCloud his best friend. One day, John, a happy father and husband, shows Thomas an old newspaper clipping that features an image of their grandfathers together. Unbeknownst to John, the unearthing of that connection will destroy everything that he holds dear.
The story is good and fast-moving, with welcome moral weight offsetting some dark material. The swings of sanity and madness in Thomas are scary, and Cruickshank’s portrait of the insulating—and possibly deadening—effects of wealth and power often chill, and not just when Thomas performs dark acts. “Love, integrity, and goodness are relative qualities for people like me,” he declares to a priest, seeming truly to believe it.
Booklife Reviews
Eagle Bay by Ken Cruickshank is a psychological murder thriller with infinite twists and turns. [The story] is an intriguing and deep dive into seriously troubled and warped minds. I particularly enjoyed delving into the twisted minds of Thomas and his father. Thomas’ mercurial personality and rapid mood changes added tension and excitement to the narrative. Skye was a wonderful character who dealt with tragedy with poise and grace, never losing sight of her vision of the future and her family. Her and [her son’s] rationality and decisive actions invariably saved the day. The novel’s overarching theme can best be summed up with the idea that “Wealth and power corrupt, but absolute wealth and power corrupt absolutely.” This was a satisfying and enjoyable read and one I can highly recommend.
Reader’s Favorite 5-Star
Eagle Bay can compare to a spider’s web. Its attractiveness lures its reader into a tightly woven trap, and they find they cannot walk away from the danger in their pathway. Ken Cruickshank has proven that he is a master of suspense and intrigue. How he combines all the elements this book showcases is brilliant. The plot of this story cries out to become the next Lifetime Movie.
Midwest Book Review
Ken Cruickshank’s EAGLE BAY is a roller-coaster of a read–a strong story that plunges deep into the psyche of villains and heroes in the making. With unexpected twists and turns in each chapter, it will leave readers guessing right up until the end. Overall the story is enticing, growing even more so as it turns from a series of events to an examination of Thomas’s downfall. There’s something very classical about Thomas’s story: his corruption at the hands of his father, eventually leading him down a path where he orchestrates and perpetuates his own downfall. This is the most intriguing aspect of the story, overshadowing even the mystery of the Westbrooke family’s “assets.”
Indie ReaderKen Cruickshank makes himself known with this chilling thriller. He weaves a story like no other as the story develops, providing the reader with something well worth their while. A family secret that does not align with anything citizens of Eagle Bay can comprehend is at the heart of the story. Still, there is something there and as the narrative progresses, Cruickshank leads the reader into a dark and intensely complex place to reveal it all, but could it be too late? Cruickshank offers up this eerie story that will have readers turning pages well into the night.
Discovery
Coming January 1, 2023: The Emerald Cross
Diabolical drug lords with little conscience instill fear and perform wicked acts. Some victims are wired to strike back.
Green Beret war hero Jamie Morales returns to Southern California from the Middle East, missing an eye and burdened by the horrors of war. After a difficult transition into life as a public citizen with his high school sweetheart and wife, Brooklyn, he learns that his mother is secretly harboring a fascinating antiquity once owned by Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Marco Delgado—the same man who murdered Jamie’s father thirty years earlier. Assessing the risks of his mother owning something a brutal cartel boss once owned and wants back, Jamie acts to protect those he loves from a worst-case scenario. Then, tragedy strikes.
After the DEA, FBI, and two countries’ militaries fail three times to bring Marco Delgado to justice for horrific deeds, the physically and emotionally injured ex-Green Beret does something he once promised Brooklyn he would never do again—pick up a weapon. Jamie Morales isn’t sure if his pursuit is about justice or vengeance, and he quietly accepts he probably won’t survive the personal crusade stirring in his head.
Delgado’s cartel in the Sinaloa mountains of Mexico is about to be breached by a man who has lost everything that matters. Sylvia Sokolov, Jamie’s ex-Army comrade and Black Hawk pilot, stubbornly inserts herself into her friend’s pursuit. Together, they aim to achieve the impossible while reconciling their uniquely painful pasts. Amid the quest, Jamie discovers astonishing truths that rewrite everything he knows about his family’s past, present, and future. Then Sylvia risks everything for an unknown Mexican woman whose life lies in the balance, and the mission evolves in extraordinary ways.
Stand Up: a memoir of disease, family, faith & hope
Friends and family expected Ken Cruickshank to continue playing sports, traveling, engaging in mischief,
and raising an active brood after marrying his soulmate, Karen. Indeed, all was proceeding to plan until
an invisible enemy strengthened its grip on his body and mind. Goals, abilities, and many dreams grew
forever affected by progressive disease. After an accident crumpled his weakened body, the author dug
deep to rediscover the optimism and hope he’d once considered his essence. Ken realized that the
illness he blamed for stealing his identity was also the path to wisdom and a life of fulfillment. Stand
Up: a memoir of disease, family, faith & hope is not a story of the science and medicine of chronic illness; instead, it is a poignant and engaging revelation of how families and loved ones can overcome nearly any trial set before them. But most of all, Stand Up is an entertaining memoir of perspective, perseverance, and hope.
Stand Up Reviews
…reflective passages…ring with an unpolished authenticity that marks the best memoirs. (Cruickshank) writes about losing control of his body with a brutal sincerity. His sense of personal triumph is contagious. An affecting account of chronic illness.
Kirkus Reviews
A candidly compelling and ultimately inspiring memoir, “Stand Up” is a simply riveting read from start to finish and a very highly recommended addition to community library Contemporary American Biography collections.
Midwest Book Review
Ken Cruickshank wrote this memoir using speech-to-text software, yet he writes with the ease and grace of a master wordsmith. His stories are captivating, emotional, gut-honest, and above all inspiring, not just because of what he writes about, but the example he sets.
David Aretha, award-winning biographer and editor