Eric Matheny
is a criminal defense attorney who enjoys writing crime fiction, drawing from
his experience working in the legal system. He has handled everything from DUI
to murder. His latest novel The Victim was released on
August 13, 2015, published by Zharmae. The Victim is
a tense, fast-paced, legal thriller/psychological suspense novel that centers
around a young defense attorney whose horrifying misdeed from his college days
comes back to haunt him. It is available for sale on Amazon.
Anton Mackey is a man with everything. At least,
he seems to be on the surface. He has a rising career as a private attorney, a
lovely wife, a beautiful daughter; he and his family live in an idyllic
neighborhood that most people dream about. Sure, there are troubles that plague
this family, the same as any other, but all in all things are looking up. Life
is good, and the future is better.
Except Anton has a past, too, and something has
been looming, bearing down on him from that history, just waiting for the
chance to strike. Soon, everything will change, and the life he’s struggled so
hard to build will come crashing down around him.
And the worst part of it all: Anton Mackey has no
one to blame but himself.
Praise for The Victim:
“The Victim by
Eric Matheny has a fast moving pace and a skillfully conceived plot with quite
a few twists and turns… A page turner, this legal thriller has all the elements
to hold reader interest from the first page to the last.” - Reviewed by
ReadersFavorite.com
“An astounding
legal thriller that is full of surprise, mystery and moral dilemma. Matheny may
well be the next Scott Turow.” – Reviewed by BestThrillers.com
Chapter
1
March
16, 2003
Payson,
Arizona
He
thought he was dead.
Steam
hissed from the crumpled front end of the RV that had folded accordion-style
against the guardrail. His face stung from the punch of the airbag. His lungs
burned from that awful talcum powder that drifted through the cabin as the bag
deflated. The chemical dust, suspended in the air, seemed to be frozen in time.
His
nose was numb and swollen. He tasted blood trickling down the back of his
throat like a cocaine drip. He peered through the cracked windshield, his eyes
adjusting to the reddish glow of a desert sunrise. The crushed-in hood had
jarred upward. The chassis was off balance. The whole vehicle wobbled as he
shifted his weight in his seat.
Oh my God.
He
cranked the door handle and heaved his shoulder into it to pop it off the jamb.
He hopped down onto the highway. The winds were heavy and dry, rustling the
sage and scrub oaks that dotted the rugged landscape along the Beeline Highway.
A sliver of fiery light barely illuminated the peaks of the Mazatal Mountains,
which rose and fell against the horizon. Giant saguaros stood like sentries.
The
back half of a red two-door sedan lay beneath the shredded front tires of the
RV. Flattened like an aluminum can. On impact the RV must have bucked forward,
rolling up onto the rear bumper of the smaller car, coming to rest on its roof.
The significant weight of the RV crushed the sedan into something you might see
stacked in a junkyard.
The
highway was quiet. Just the rush of hot wind crackling the delicate spines of
the sagebrush. He got his bearings quickly, the initial shock of the crash
having passed. A sobering experience. Literally. Half a handle of Jack Daniels
coursing through his veins had been replaced by something stronger.
Panic.
He
saw long hair, a young female’s. How he could tell her age by the back of her
head, he would never know. Maybe by its length and sheen—bright, yellow-blond.
Slick with blood. Her forehead propped on the steering wheel. The driver-side
window blown out. The windshield was a shattered web.
The
man beside her—or boy, he was arguably young—was out cold, his body positioned
in the passenger’s seat in a gimpy, off-kilter fashion. The passenger side had
been thrust into the guardrail, which molded itself to the frame of the car.
His head lolled against the door. Blood leaked from his ear and ran down his
neck.
“Are
you okay?” he screamed, although he knew he would get no reply. His voice
resonated throughout the valley. “Hello?”
He
braced himself against the ruined front end of the RV. He felt a surge of bile
and whiskey come up in the back of his throat. He heaved forward but held it
in. He was lightheaded.
Oh God, please let
this be a dream. Oh God, please...this can’t be happening, this can’t be
happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening...
Eric Matheny
was born in Los Angeles, California, where he lived until he went away to
college at Arizona State University. At ASU he was president of Theta Chi
Fraternity. He graduated with a degree in political science and moved to Miami,
Florida, to attend law school at St. Thomas University. During his third year
of law school, he interned for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, where he
worked as a prosecutor upon graduation. In 2009, he went into private practice
as a criminal defense attorney. He is a solo practitioner representing clients
in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Broward County, Florida. He has handled
everything from DUI to murder.
In his free
time, Eric enjoys writing crime fiction, drawing from his experience working in
the legal system. He published his debut novel Home in 2004, which centers around a successful drug dealer catering to
the rich in Orange County. His second novel Lockdown, published in 2005, follows a law student trying to prove that an
inmate serving a life sentence in one of California’s toughest prisons might
actually be innocent. Eric’s latest novel The
Victim, is a tense, fast-paced, legal thriller/psychological suspense novel
that centers around a young defense attorney whose horrifying misdeed from his
college days comes back to haunt him. It was published by Zharmae in August
2015 and is available for sale on Amazon.
Eric lives
outside of Fort Lauderdale with his wife and two young sons.
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