Release Date: September 5, 2023
About The Book:
A Ghostly Window Into the Past
Nurse Nellie Lester can’t escape death. Fleeing Chicago at the height of the 1918 Spanish flu, she takes a nursing job at a decrepit mansion on a desolate Michigan island, convinced the island holds the secret to her mother’s murky past. The only problem? Her dead mother seems to have followed her there. Nightly she’s haunted by a ghostly presence that appears in her bedroom. But is it her mother or something more sinister?
When the frozen body of the prior nurse is unearthed, Nellie suspects the nurse’s death and her family’s history are connected to a mysterious group that disappeared from the island twenty-four years earlier.
As winter closes in, past and present collide resurrecting a lurid killer, hell-bent on keeping the island’s secrets. Will Nellie uncover her mother’s shocking past before the killer enacts his final revenge?
About The Author:
The Darkness Surrounds Us is Gail Lukasik’s fifth mystery novel and her first Gothic mystery. Kirkus Reviews praised Gail’s mysteries as “riveting, fast-paced and loaded with suspense.” Gail’s memoir, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing, captured national attention and led to her appearance on NBC’s The Today Show. The Washington Post named White Like Her one of the most inspiring stories of 2017. Once a member of the Cleveland Civic Ballet Company, she credits her aesthetic sensibility, her stage presence, and her writerly discipline to her training as a classical ballerina. https://www.gaillukasik.com/
Social Media:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gaillukasik5
Twitter: @glukasik1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lukasikgail
Book Blurbs:
“If you like classic Gothic mysteries with a dash of ghostly shadowing, then The Darkness Surrounds Us is for you. Author Lukasik delivers an engaging concoction, set in 1918, that consists of all the right ingredients: a young nurse protagonist with a puzzle in her past, a creepy and isolated island setting, an old creaky mansion that rivals Manderley, a colorful and suspiciously sinister supporting cast, and the discoveries of a corpse or two. Atmospheric and poetic, this is a tale that will keep you turning the pages until you reach the final, startling revelation.” —Raymond Benson, author of The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way
“Moody and atmospheric, The Darkness Surrounds Us by Gail Lukasik is a taut gothic mystery with an intriguing twist. Her heroine, Nurse Nellie Lester, is resourceful and determined as she unravels old and new secrets in her search to make sense of her own past. Readers will enjoy the romantic undertones and the unrelenting suspense in this classically imagined tale.” —Susanna Calkins, award-winning author of the Lucy Campion Mysteries and the Speakeasy Murders
Bloggers On Tour:
Sept. 10th- A Court Of spines n pages https://instagram.com/acourtofspinesnpages
Sept. 11th- Love My Books 2020 https://instagram.com/lovemybooks2020
Sept. 18th- Sarahs Bookish Reviews https://instagram.com/sarahs.bookish.reviews
Sept. 18th- Bookish Heidi https://instagram.com/bookish.heidi
Sept. 21st-Bookmarked By Mel https://instagram.com/bookmarkedbymel
Sept. 22nd- Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding
Sept. 24th- Miss W Book Reviews https://instagram.com/misswbookreviews
Sept. 24th- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading
Sept. 27th- 2 Many Books 2 Little Time https://instagram.com/2manybooks2littletime
Sept. 28th- Kelizak Reads https://instagram.com/kelizakreads
Sept. 28th- Reading Late Into The Night https://instagram.com/reading.late.into.the.night
Oct. 2nd- CMT Loves Wine and Books https://instagram.com/cmtloveswineandbooks
Oct. 2nd – Gwendalyn Books https://instagram.com/gwendalyn_books_
Oct. 3rd- Nurse Bookie https://instagram.com/nurse_bookie
Oct. 4th- Rozier Reads and Wine https://instagram.com/rozierreadsandwine
Oct. 4th- Subakka Bookstuff https://instagram.com/subakka.bookstuff
Oct. 5th- Tammy Reads https://instagram.com/tammyreads62
Oct. 6th- Just Another Mother With Books https://instagram.com/just_another_mother_with_books
Suzy Approved Book Tours 