The Six Train to Wisconsin

by Kourtney Heintz

Overview

There is one person that ties Oliver Richter to this world: his wife Kai. For Kai, Oliver is the keeper of her secrets.

When her telepathy spirals out of control and inundates her mind with the thoughts and emotions of everyone within a half-mile radius, the life they built together in Manhattan is threatened.

To save her, Oliver brings her to the hometown he abandoned--Butternut, Wisconsin--where the secrets of his past remain buried. But the past has a way of refusing to stay dead. Can Kai save Oliver before his secrets claim their future?

An emotionally powerful debut, The Six Train to Wisconsin pushes the bounds of love as it explores devotion, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780989132664
Publisher:	Aurea Blue Press
Publication date:	09/26/2016
Series:	Six Train to Wisconsin , #1
Edition description:	Revised with New Photos and Author's Note ed.
Pages:	420
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Kourtney Heintz writes emotionally evocative speculative fiction that captures the deepest truths of being human. For her characters, love is a journey never a destination.

She resides in Connecticut with her warrior lapdog, Emerson, her supportive parents and three quirky golden retrievers. Years of working on Wall Street provided the perfect backdrop for her imagination to run amuck at night, imagining a world where out-of-control telepathy and buried secrets collide.

Her debut novel, The Six Train to Wisconsin, was a 2014 Indie Excellence Award Winner, 2014 International Book Awards Finalist, 2014 EPIC Ebook Award Finalist, 2013 USA Best Book Awards Finalist, and 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semifinalist.

She also writes YA gothic mysteries as K.C. Tansley.

Editorial Reviews

"THE SIX TRAIN TO WISCONSIN is an engaging story that deftly explores the mysteries and secrets of the heart and mind. Kourtney Heintz has crafted a story that is hypnotic and uplifting - you won't want to put it down."
-Paige Shelton, New York Times bestselling author of Farm Fresh Murder

"THE SIX TRAIN TO WISCONSIN is like a breathless thrill ride on an out-of-control freight train rushing through the darkness, at a pace that never slows down, never lets up, and never compromises. There are enough twists and turns and near misses to make you hang onto your seat by your fingernails, and at the end, respite and a satisfying conclusion that makes the crazy ride worth it."
-Jenna Bennett/Jennie Bentley, USA Today & New York Times bestselling author of the Do-It-Yourself Home Renovation mysteries & the Cutthroat Business mysteries

"A richly layered novel, The Six Train to Wisconsin gently pushes at the reader's expectations, then exceeds them, turning what could almost become kitschy in more inexperienced hands to something with an almost literary bent (if the literary genre ever decided to dabble in the paranormal)."
-Readers' Favorite reviewed by Kayti Nika Raet


"Heintz's debut weaves psychological insight into a suspenseful, sci-fi-tinged thriller and produces a welcome variation on the classic marriage drama."
-Kirkus Reviews

"Readers will be hooked by Kai's special powers and the ways in which they make her life difficult."
-Publishers Weekly

"Kourtney Heintz's compelling brand of paranormal intrigue and psychological exploration embeds issues of loving, leaving, betrayal, and family relationships into a storyline that is hard to put down."
-Midwest Book Review, reviewed by Senior Reviewer D. Donovan

From the Publisher

08/26/2013
Kai is a telepath working as a social worker in Manhattan. Her husband, Oliver, has devoted much of his life to keeping her from crippling depression and suicidal thoughts. Desperate for relief, Oliver drugs Kai and takes her to his tiny hometown of Butternut, Wis., in hopes that the quieter environment will let her reconnect with herself and quiet the voices she hears as a result of her powers. But things don't work out according to plan in Butternut, as Oliver's past threatens to derail his and Kai's future. Readers will be hooked by Kai's special powers and the ways in which they make her life difficult. Oliver's kidnapping of Kai is compelling, though some aspects of plot are tied together in contrived ways. Heintz resists clear resolution at the end, which may be frustrating to some while delighful to others.

Publishers Weekly

A harrowing psychological and paranormal novel of a marriage in crisis. Oliver Richter loves his wife, Kai, who's beautiful, compassionate and sexy--and she has the ability to telepathically communicate with other people. The power makes her unable to function normally, particularly when she does Social Services work with abused children, as she can hear and feel their pain and fear. (Kai's brother, Caleb, is a "dreamwalker" who can enter the dreams of anyone he chooses.) Oliver picks up on Kai's thoughts, and as a result, he shares her insomnia, nightmares and suicidal fantasies. When Kai doesn't improve after her time in a mental institution, Oliver kidnaps her and brings her from New York to Butternut, Wis., his quiet hometown, where he plans to fix up his grandfather's house and come to terms with long-buried, agonizing truths about his family. As Oliver and Kai settle in, Oliver's old flame, Mickey, shows up and causes a rift in the already delicate marriage. But when Mickey's gifted son, Lukas, disappears, Kai must use her telepathic powers to track him down, putting her in more danger than ever. Heintz's debut weaves psychological insight into a suspenseful, sci-fi–tinged thriller and produces a welcome variation on the classic marriage drama. Although the pacing in the book's first three-quarters might have benefited from a stronger edit, the last quarter's climax provides a satisfying payoff. Unfortunately, the book includes many overwrought metaphors and similes (food "ricocheted back up my esophagus"; "bullet trains of thought fired at me"; sneakers "chewed up dirt and rocks"; "grief crushed my trachea," and more). Readers might allow for a handful of poetic flourishes, but such language can become cloying. An imaginative, if sometimes linguistically distracting, look at the consequences of extrasensory powers.

Kirkus Reviews