End Times

by Rio Youers, Vincent Chong (Illustrator)

Wherever you are, I’ll be there.

Recovering heroin addict Scott Hennessey has a dark and terrible past. Determined to rebuild his life, he has buried the memories and moved on … until he finds her, Mia Floats Softly, shimmering in the rain. Alive with fire and as beautiful as his pain, she awakens his reckless desire. The dark memories come flooding back, and Scott knows that Mia Floats Softly is tethered to his past … and that she has returned because she means to destroy him.

Wherever you go, I’ll be waiting.

As broken as the life-lines on his ruined hands, Scott must face the darkness he has tried so hard to escape from. His journey leads him from the cold streets of England to the wild prairies of South Dakota, where he will learn the truth about Mia, and himself … and where he must face the destructive power of desire one final time.

227 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Rio Youers is the British Fantasy and Sunburst Award–nominated author of Lola on Fire and No Second Chances. His 2017 thriller, The Forgotten Girl, was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. He is the writer of Refrigerator Full of Heads, a six-issue comic series from DC Comics, and Sleeping Beauties, a graphic novel based on the number-one bestseller by Stephen King and Owen King. Rio’s latest novel, The Bang-Bang Sisters, was published by William Morrow in summer 2024.

Reviews

[Sjgomzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rio Youers is incapable of writing a bad book. Impossible to classify, as with most of his books. This was beautiful at times. Native American legends, the horrors of drug addiction, angry god’s, and a fascinating journey, from rock bottom, to hero.

[G.R. Yeates · Rating 5 out of 5]

End Times is a superb work of dark speculative fiction. Social realism, rock’n’roll, body horror and Native American legend are all interwoven into a tale that takes you on a haunting journey that feels like navigating a spiritual leyline. Rio Youers writes with a distinctive voice and the word that best describes it for me is passionate. You can tell this a story told by someone who loves the telling as much as the tale itself and it shows in the careful, poetic selection of the words. End Times is a love story but not in the paranormal romance sense. The love here is as grim and frightening as it is beautiful and daunting. Need I say, I recommend this book.

[Michael Louis Dixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed End Times overall. It is a compelling story that combines a modern urban drama with Lakota myth in a spellbinding conflict. The main character, Scott Hennessey, is a flawed person--both physically and mentally. He is as much a mystery to the reader as the irresistible Lakota woman he is enthralled with. While the prose is beautiful, the writing can sometimes tip over into melodrama. Sometimes the words would resonate in beautiful ways, and other times they made me roll my eyes. Still, I’d recommend this book to anyone who’s a fan of Urban Fantasy in the vein of Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman.