Tawni O'Dell – författare

Shae-Lynn Penrose drives a cab in a town where no one needs a cab—but plenty of people need rides. A former police officer with a closet full of miniskirts, a recklessly sharp tongue, and a tendency to deal with men by either beating them up or taking them to bed, she has spent years carving out a life for herself and her son in Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania, the tiny coal-mining town where she grew up. Two years ago, five of Shae-Lynn’s miner friends were catapulted to media stardom when they were rescued after surviving four days trapped in a mine. As the men struggle to come to terms with the nightmarish memories of their ordeal, along with the fallout of their short- lived celebrity, Shae-Lynn finds herself facing harsh realities and reliving bad dreams of her own, including her relationship with her brutal father, her conflicted passion for one of the miners, and the hidden identity of the man who fathered her son. When the younger sister she thought was dead arrives on her doorstep, followed closely by a gun-wielding Russian gangster, a shady New York lawyer, and a desperate Connecticut housewife, Shae-Lynn is forced to grapple with the horrible truth she discovers about the life her sister’s been living, and with one ominous question: Will her return result in a monstrous act of greed or one of sacrifice? Tawni O’Dell’s trademark blend of black humor, tenderness, and a keen sense of place is evident once again as Shae-Lynn takes on past demons and all-too-present dangers.From the Hardcover edition.

When their hard-drinking, but loving, father dies in a car accident, teenage brothers Kyle and Klint Hayes face a bleak prospect: leaving their Pennsylvania hometown for an uncertain life in Arizona with the mother who ran out on them years ago. But in a strange twist of fate, their town’s matriarch, an eccentric, wealthy old woman whose family once owned the county coal mines, hears the boys’ story. Candace Jack doesn’t have an ounce of maternal instinct, yet for reasons she does not even understand herself, she is compelled to offer them a home.Suddenly, the two boys go from living in a small, run-down house on a gravel road to a stately mansion filled with sumptuous furnishings and beautiful artwork—artwork that’s predominantly centered, oddly, on bullfighting. And then there’s Miss Jack’s real-life bull: Ventisco—a regal, hulking, jet-black beast who roams the land she owns with fiery impudence. Kyle adjusts more easily to the transition. A budding artist, he finds a kindred spirit in Miss Jack. But local baseball hero Klint refuses to warm up to his new benefactress and instead throws himself into his game with a fierceness that troubles his little brother. Klint is not just grieving his father’s death; he’s carrying a terrible secret that he has never revealed to anyone. Unbeknownst to the world, Candace Jack has a secret too—a tragic, passionate past in Spain that the boys’ presence threatens to reveal as she finds herself caring more for them than she ever believed possible. From the muted, bruised hills of Pennsylvania coal country to the colorful, flamboyant bull rings of southern Spain, Tawni O’Dell takes us on a riveting journey not only between two completely different lands, but also between seemingly incompatible souls, casting us under her narrative spell in which characters and places are rendered with fragile tenderness.From the Hardcover edition.

With her eagerly awaited second novel, Tawni O''Dell takes readers back to the coal-mining country of western Pennsylvania. Set in a town ravaged and haunted by a mine explosion that took the lives of 96 men, Coal Run explores the life of local deputy and erstwhile football legend, "The Great Ivan Z.," as he prepares for a former teammate''s imminent release from prison. As the week unfolds and Ivan struggles to confront his demons, he reveals himself to be a man whose conscience is burdened by a long-held and shocking secret.

One day Harley Altmyer was 18 and thinking about making some kind of life. He had a family he loved and he figured it was time to get a job. Before he has the chance, his life is a minefield: his father is dead, his mother in prison for the murder, three younger sisters to care for, and there's not too much time left over for himself. Suddenly he has two crummy jobs, a fantasy sex life, big worries about the kids and a court-appointed therapist.A intense physical relationship with a woman living down the road seems to offer a way out, the answer to his problems. But little can he realise that those problems are only just beginning...

“A fearless exploration of the line between mental illness and true evil, a place many thriller writers visit but without the kind of fearless insights [Tawni] O’Dell reveals in this powerful novel” (The New York Times Book Review).Dr. Sheridan Doyle—a fastidiously groomed and TV-friendly forensic psychologist—is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office whenever a twisted killer’s mind eludes other experts. But beneath his Armani pinstripes, he’s still Danny Doyle, the awkward, terrified, bullied boy from a blue-collar mining family, plagued by panic attacks and haunted by the tragic death of his little sister and mental unraveling of his mother years ago. Returning to a hometown grappling with its own ghosts, Danny finds a dead body at the infamous Lost Creek gallows where a band of rebellious Irish miners was once executed. Strangely, the body is connected to the wealthy family responsible for the miners’ deaths. Teaming up with veteran detective Rafe, a father-like figure from his youth, Danny—in pursuit of a killer—comes dangerously close to startling truths about his family, his past, and himself. With “poignant…achingly beautiful prose” (San Diego Union) and “rich, compassionate storytelling” (Entertainment Weekly), O’Dell weaves a masterful, thrilling tale reminiscent of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, where the past and present collide to put Lost Creek’s long-lived ghosts to bed.

Check out Tawni O’Dell’s upcoming thriller, Angels Burning, available January 2016 from Gallery Books. “A fearless exploration of the line between mental illness and true evil, a place many thriller writers visit but without the kind of fearless insights [Tawni] O’Dell reveals in this powerful novel” (The New York Times Book Review).Dr. Sheridan Doyle—a fastidiously groomed and TV-friendly forensic psychologist—is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office whenever a twisted killer’s mind eludes other experts. But beneath his Armani pinstripes, he’s still Danny Doyle, the awkward, terrified, bullied boy from a blue-collar mining family, plagued by panic attacks and haunted by the tragic death of his little sister and mental unraveling of his mother years ago. Returning to a hometown grappling with its own ghosts, Danny finds a dead body at the infamous Lost Creek gallows where a band of rebellious Irish miners was once executed. Strangely, the body is connected to the wealthy family responsible for the miners’ deaths. Teaming up with veteran detective Rafe, a father-like figure from his youth, Danny—in pursuit of a killer—comes dangerously close to startling truths about his family, his past, and himself. With “poignant…achingly beautiful prose” (San Diego Union) and “rich, compassionate storytelling” (Entertainment Weekly), O’Dell weaves a masterful, thrilling tale reminiscent of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, where the past and present collide to put Lost Creek’s long-lived ghosts to bed.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Back Roads, “a no-holds-barred, page-turning, perfectly crafted thriller” (Heather Gudenkauf, author of The Weight of Silence) following a small town police chief who’s forced to dig into her own shadowy past as she investigates the murder of a teenage girl.On the surface, Chief Dove Carnahan is a true trailblazer who would do anything to protect the rural Pennsylvanian town where she has lived all fifty of her years. Traditional and proud of her blue-collar sensibilities, Dove is loved by her community—but she hides a dark and self-destructive streak, fed by a secret she has kept since she was sixteen. When a girl is beaten to death and her body tossed down a fiery sinkhole in an abandoned coal town, Dove is faced with solving the most shocking crime of her law enforcement career. She identifies the girl as a member of a local family of petty criminals. To further complicate things, the man convicted of killing Dove’s mother is released from prison and reveals a startling accusation. Dove now must face the chilling parallels between her own family’s trauma and that of the dead girl’s. “A darkly compelling look into how the past colors the present, this psychological thriller will linger” (RT Book Reviews) with you long after you turn the final page.

Growing up in hard-scrabble coal country with a drunk father and a runaway mother hasn''t been easy for teen brothers Kyle and Klint.  And when their dad smashes his truck and dies after a few too many beers, the boys are shocked that their often-absent mother plans to take them back to her new home out West.  After all, their mom hasn''t cared for Kyle and Klint for years. She still doesn''t.  Their mom quickly hands the boys over to 75-year-old Candace Jack, a curmudgeon with an acidic tongue who surprises herself in agreeing to take the boys. Living together isn''t easy, but the boys discover that Candace has a tragic, passionate past and the three discarded souls help each other to heal. With Tawni O''Dell''s trademark tenderness, vivid sense of place, and complex characters, Fragile Beasts is a beautifully crafted novel told from two very different points of view: a fourteen-year-old boy''s and a seventy-five-year-old woman''s. It''s a wonderfully touching novel with two fascinating narrators who will wholly capture readers'' hearts.