Carly Black
Thrillers, mysteries, and horror that get under your skin and stay there. These are stories about the things people bury — and what happens when they surface.
Novels
Bloodlines
⚠️ Warning: Aspects of this book are quite dark. See content warnings below.
Alyssa Carter just wanted to fill in the blanks on her family tree. A DNA test was supposed to offer roots, not rot.
When the results arrive, they shatter everything she thought she knew about herself. Her frantic research leads her down a dark path that starts with the FBI at her door, asking questions about a serial killer she's never heard of. But the DNA doesn't lie. The connection is real.
The deeper Alyssa digs, the more the past unearths itself. Gruesome crimes staged like theater. Bodies left as messages. A family she never knew existed.
But someone is watching. And they don't want her to find the truth.
As her research spirals into obsession, strange things begin happening. Objects moved in her home. Threatening tokens left on her doorstep. The line between family history and present danger blurs until Alyssa can no longer tell if she's investigating the past or being hunted by it.
Some family secrets are buried for a reason, and blood ties can kill.
For readers who crave the twisted family dynamics of Sharp Objects, the moral ambiguity of Gone Girl, and the slow-burn dread of The Good Girl.
- Multiple murders
- Graphic descriptions of corpses and crime scenes
- Body horror: sewn mouths, removed eyes, carved words into flesh, removed teeth, genital mutilation
- Blood and gore descriptions
- Staged crime scenes
- Child sexual abuse (past)
- Attempted child molestation (present)
- Physical abuse of children (past)
- Toddler death (past)
- System failure to protect children
- Infidelity/cheating
- Past sexual abuse discussed (not graphic)
- Attempted assault of minor
- Escalating stalking throughout
- Home invasion elements
- Surveillance and being watched
- Psychological terror
- Obsessive behavior / research spirals
- Insomnia and sleep deprivation
- Paranoia
- Emotional manipulation
- Identity crisis and psychological breakdown
- Moral corruption arc
- Gaslighting
- Job loss and financial stress
- Divorce and betrayal
- Adoption trauma / abandonment issues
- Alcoholic parent
- Religious trauma
- System/institutional failure
The actual moments of attempted child abuse are discussed but not shown on-page. Sexual content beyond the infidelity opening is not graphically depicted.
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Short Stories & Anthologies
Each anthology features a Carly Black original story. Content varies by anthology and contributor.
A Deadly Silence Story. Derby City Paranormal Investigations ventures into Hillcrest Sanatorium — where a ball moves on its own, a ghost appears only on camera, and the financial records don't add up.
An In the Cards Story. Librarian Tess Davis discovers a hidden journal on her 35th birthday — and a generational curse that gives her one lunar month to burn it all down or lose everything.
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