Into the Ashes

Rights reversal. Re-release coming Sept 2024

A Taine McKenna Adventure

Sequel to award-winning Into the Mist

ISBN 13 978-1-925840-57-5

No longer content to rumble in anger, the great mountain warriors of New Zealand’s central plateau, the Kāhui Tupua, are preparing again for battle. At least, that’s how the Māori elders tell it. The nation’s leaders scoff at the danger. That is; until the ground opens and all hell breaks loose. The armed forces are hastily deployed; NZDF Sergeant Taine McKenna and his section are tasked with evacuating civilians and tourists from Tongariro National Park. It is too little, too late. With earthquakes coming thick and fast and the mountains spewing rock and ash, McKenna and his men are cut off. Their only hope of rescuing the stranded civilians is to find another route out, but a busload of prison evacuees has other ideas. And, deep beneath the earth’s crust, other forces are stirring.

A stand-alone sequel to award-winning military thriller Into the Mist, and Into the Sounds, Into the Ashes is the latest must-read title in Murray’s Taine McKenna adventure series.

Click here for Into the Mist!

Click here for Into the Sounds!

Reviews

“INTO THE ASHES is a kick-ass thriller with twists you will never see coming! Lee Murray serves up a nail-biter of a weird-science action adventure. Brava!”

— Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of DEEP SILENCE and V-WARS

“Part disaster novel, part supernatural adventure – a suspenseful, action-packed thriller that’s entertaining as hell! ”

— Tim Waggoner, author of TEETH OF THE SEA and BLOOD ISLAND

“INTO THE ASHES hits the ground running and does not let up. A unique background, interesting characters, a dollop of horror, and a relentless, thriller pace.” — Charles R Rutledge, co-author of the Griffin and Price series.

“Murray’s INTO THE ASHES reads like a gauntlet - an action-packed adventure where death strikes from every side. A thrilling read!” — Ashley Knight, co-author of HERALD

“INTO THE ASHES begins and concludes in mysticism but blends that mysticism seamlessly with the exacting realities of a turbulent landscape, a rapidly ticking clock, and an incarnate evil. Murray has taken on herself an enormous task in balancing so many threads. In lesser hands, the story might emerge as disjointed, fragmented. But Into the Ashes succeeds on every level it attempts. It is a powerful culmination to a trio of ambitious stories. It creates strong, empathetic characters who do in fact seem capable of tackling a super-volcano on its own term and possibly, just possibly, winning. It employs a landscape at once strange and familiar, an Everywhere that is nevertheless firmly rooted in New Zealand’s history, language, and culture. And the story it tells—one of human suffering and the inexorable will to survive—is individual to Murray’s talents and universal in its conclusions, realistic and mystical.” — World Horror Master, Michael Collings

Cinematic and evocative, Into the Mist is a tension-packed expedition into primordial terror.
Murray’s writing had me feeling the damp of the forest, seeing the mist curling through the fern fronds, and sensing the danger lurking there. Ancient myths, military men and scientists placed in remote, primordial locations – it had all the right ingredients for me, and it didn’t disappoint for a moment. Lee Murray is an author to watch.”

— Greig Beck, best-selling author of the Arcadian series

"A gripping take on the disaster fiction genre." — Aurealis #132, 3030