Claude Bouchard Books

A writer friend's recent experience spurred me to write this short story...

The Spoiler

Done with his research, Shawn downloaded the GPS data to his smart-phone then closed the map page, PeopleFind and a handful of other sites he had consulted. He glanced at the time before shutting down the computer and nodded as he calculated his ETA. According to Google, getting to the small town of Landsview would take a little over two hours, which would put him there around eleven. He just had to get some things together and he’d be on his way.

He headed to his workshop off the garage to select tools he might need for the job, not knowing precisely what would be required until he got there and assessed the situation. One couldn’t always rely on appropriate tools being available at any given location. The hammer-drill was a must as was the nail-gun. He checked his tool case, just to make sure, but there were already a couple of rolls of duct tape in there along with the usual variety of hand tools. The small crowbar was often handy and joined the other equipment, followed by the propane torch, once he’d ensured the canister was full.

Satisfied he had everything he might need, he closed the case and lugged it into the garage, storing it in the trunk of his car before donning his overalls and work-boots. Ready to go, he slid into the driver’s seat, buckling up and starting the engine while the garage door rumbled open. Backing out onto the quiet street, he hit the remote again and, as the door started rolling down, he headed off towards the highway, as directed by the GPS app on his phone.

The drive was quiet and uneventful as he cruised along the almost deserted highway towards Landsview, allowing him some musing time. He chuckled as he considered how stupid some people could be, publicly insulting and bashing others on countless websites, too naïve to realize how they could easily be tracked and located via the same medium they used to cause pain, the Internet.

An established author of horror novels, Shawn had received his fair share of bad reviews over the years and taken them in stride as they had never impeded his journey on the road to success. He could handle the fact that some people didn’t enjoy his novels or like his writing style. He would even laugh when reading some of these dreadful critiques, often written by people who clearly had missed the plot completely. However, some people pushed things too far, taking it upon themselves to be spiteful to authors and other readers by giving away the story on public book sites, doing their damnedest to cause ruin and harm to people they didn’t even know. This was something Shawn could not accept, something he considered the ultimate crime in the literary world… The spoiler… Those guilty of such an offence had to be punished, had to suffer for the malicious damage they had willingly caused…

Like this Al Coughlin, a fifty-seven year old idiot residing at 395 Mill Road in Landsview, Shawn’s destination. That very day, he had posted a spoiler about Shawn’s latest novel on a highly popular book site… And soon he would have to endure the consequences…

Have you read Vigilante, the first thriller in my crime series? U.S. http://amzn.to/pyMBQj ; U.K. http://amzn.to/H5jgBd