Ersatz World

His bestselling author has vanished, he's under surveillance, and a killer is trying to hack bits off his wife. It's not easy being a publisher in the 21st century... Samuel Verso is an ordinary, old-fashioned publisher trying to resist the lure of e-books. As his wife fills the hallway with prosthetic limbs and his business partner is replaced with an exact replica he realises that his problems run deeper than books on a computer screen. But it is only when he is serially abducted, beaten and accused of terrorism that he understands it isn't that he's paranoid - it's that he isn't paranoid enough. Soon, his reality becomes as malleable as the genres and narratives of the books that he publishes, fading away to be replaced by the mysterious code. And only the missing author holds the key to the code. Praise for Richard Godwin "Richard Godwin is a fearless and imaginative writer, unafraid of stretching the boundaries into realms where the best tales come from. Godwin's name deserves to be on the lips of all readers, and his books in their hands." - Matt Hilton, author of the bestselling Joe Hunter thrillers "With extraordinary writing, characterisation, and storytelling, Godwin is truly one of our great writers." - Luca Veste, author of Dead Gone "Exceptional writer... crackling dialogue... dazzling. Read him." - Luke Rhinehart, bestselling author of The Dice Man "That horrible taste in the back of your throat? That sense that something, some thing, has slipped up behind you and is walking in step? Celebrate them. Richard Godwin does -- brilliantly." - James Sallis, bestselling author of Drive "Once more Richard Godwin proves he is the only worthy successor to Patricia Highsmith. The Wrong Crowd is a deliciously tantalizing bit of dark psychological thriller that will make you think twice about whom you make friends with while on vacation. You won't want to put this one down for a second." - Vincent Zandri, NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of Everything Burns Number Thirteen Press is publishing 13 crime novellas by 13 different authors. See them all at www.numberthirteenpress.com