CANALS



Published March, 2011



“Daniel Lawless is a bachelor detective who prefers shoes over people. What he once thought of as a gift to help him escape the constant torment of school bullies becomes a nightmare when he starts seeing visions of dead bodies, and the visions are real. Along with a local cop, the beautiful and young Sandra Jensen, they set out to try to stop an unstoppable monster from eating it’s way through the population of Modesto, California.

“Everett Powers, you have written a masterpiece of thrilling horror! I immediately fell in love with Daniel Lawless (although a detective named Lawless made me roll my eyes, I’m used to it now). I knew I was going to love this book because of the last line in the second chapter:

“ ‘Modesto needed a Dirty Harry, a man of action who carried a big gun he wasn’t afraid to use, but what they got instead was Daniel Lawless, a man who carried a small gun he preferred not to use, a man who liked shoes.’

“Everything about this story has made me very excited to continue on and I spent most of the weekend sneaking a few pages in whenever possible. Wow, just wow. Blown away.

“On one hand I am sad that I’ve finished one of the best books I have read for a while, on the other hand if there had been much more action I may have had a heart attack! Somewhere I read that writers should avoid having too intense of action for too long. Everett pushed the envelope on this one. When it seemed too much was happening, day break would hit and everything slowed down again (Daylight is the monster’s only weakness).

“I loved this story, I loved the characters, I loved the monster, I loved the storyline.”

— D. Ryan Leask, Author of Counting Down The Storm


“A great read. ... Powers pulls you in with the first page, weaving a tale of terror that will grab you like a pit bull. I found it hard to stop reading. His characters are believable and he does a great job of showing the terror they feel.

“... a great combination of horror and sci/fi.... I don’t know if that is what he was going for, but I do know that I loved this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves this genre, and even those that don’t.”

— Ken Hoss, Author of the Kelly Storm Series.


“I think the first thing that really got me into this book was the MC. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked him or not, but as the pages flew by I couldn’t help but smile at the eccentricities of Detective Lawless. This book is a great mix of horror, dark humor and some Sci-Fi thrown in just to make it interesting.

“... One thing that struck me is how much this book read just like a John Saul novel, style wise: great characters, compelling plot, and an ending that will satisfy completely. Everett Powers has done it again.”

— Jason Hall, Author of The Ghosts of Little Rock: Tales of the City's Most Haunted Places


“Canals starts off as a typical crime thriller as Detective Daniel Lawless comes to the scene of a dismembered body by a canal in California. Everett Powers then develops a wonderful story written in the style of a good police drama. Every character the reader meets is given a full introduction, it is not a case of "this is John, a 20 year old man" - you get to know each character as a real person. This character development is true for everyone, whether they continue to the end of this novel or meet a violent death.

Detective Daniel Lawless is a different type of policeman and has a quirky character. He likes opera and has a collection of 82 pairs of shoes giving him the nickname of shoe boy when he was at school. Before he can solve this death by the canal, another death occurs along a nearby canal. Something is going on around the canal network but can Danny solve the case before more people are killed?

Slowly the reader finds that this is not your typical crime thriller. Little bits of information are drip fed into the story to make you think that something nasty may be lurking in the canals. Bit by bit this story becomes a science fiction novel.

Everett Powers develops a wonderful plot that bit by bit becomes a race for Daniel Lawless to save the day. The reader along with Daniel begins to understand just what is going on along the canals and we begin to get the bigger picture.

Canals is a very entertaining read. I like the way it moved from a crime thriller to a thought provoking science fiction story. The message at the end is very moving and forces you to consider real life global issues.

I can find nothing wrong with Canals. It is a great story that was told with precision and detail. The writing is top quality and it was a joy to read. I enjoy walking my dog along canals and now I will always wonder what may be in the water. I vote this book the top score of 5 stars.”

— Stephen Clines, Goodreads


“ ‘Canals’ starts off with an interesting and grabbing premise. A different sort of monster. But the story soon goes off on tangents that really catch one off-guard. By the time you have finished with this book, you will wonder where Powers ever got his ideas from? Is he trying to tell us something? Is he an... Advocate? An exciting and quite gory story that you just sit back and enjoy. ‘Canals’ is well worth the read.”

— “Saltraker” – Amazon review



Did you know you can download samples of my eBooks, about the first thirty pages? If you’re unsure you’ll like my writing, try the sample pages first. All eBook retailers will let you do this; it’s just one of many great things I like about eBooks.