100 Pages of Horror – Stopping Power by Eric Red

Eric Red is a legend. You may not know the name but you will know his films. The scriptwriter of the fantastic and fear filled road movie slasher The Hitcher staring the sensational Rutger Hauer as well as penning Kathryn Bigelow’s genre re-defining vampire movie Near Dark, Eric Red’s output speaks for itself.

A director as well he even helmed some of his own scripts, many of which where adaptations, including werewolf horror Bad Moon, surgery psychological thriller Body Parts, supernatural shocker 100 Feet and his feature film debut the gritty thriller Cohen and Tate.

Adding the title of accomplished author to his already bulging CV it is no wonder that Red’s previous thriller novel White Knuckle is set for a big screen adaptation itself with actress Gina Carano set to star as a traumatized woman who hires a long-hauler to track down a serial killer truck driver.

Taking to the road once again Red’s latest novel Stopping Power see’s the main character Stephanie Power caught up in an epic struggle to get her kidnapped daughter back after a psychotic bank robber hijacks her RV and demands she distract the cops while she makes her getaway.

With each chapter written from a different character’s perspective we start out hearing from Stephanie a divorced mum determined to form a strong relationship with her teenage child Libby despite her ex pouring poison in her ear. Hiring a huge RV over Spring Break the mother and daughter set out on a road trip that she hopes will bond them forever more however she has no idea of what is in store.

In a filmic fashion we then cut to Ilsa Bakke’s story, a ice cold bank robber, who along with her husband Roland is off to pull a dangerous armoured car heist to net the crew 60 million dollars in bearer bonds. Deciding it’s much easier to split the money one way Ilsa betrays her spouse and her team shooting them in the back and leaving them for dead at the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile we are treated to both Libby and Stephanie’s points of view as the idyllic trip slips into a soap drama when the teenage girl discovers her mummy dearest In Flagranti with her boyfriend who has randomly showed up at the hotel they are staying in on a stop over from the trip in Texas.

Storming off to call her father and bitch Libby is chased down by Stephanie who picks her up in the RV and attempts to make amends. Innocently pulling into a gas station it seems things have calmed down but when Stephanie returns from paying her worst nightmare comes to life when she sees her vehicle and daughter have disappeared.

Frantic and frightened things get worse when Ilsa calls the distraught parent and informs her she has her child and will only give her back if Stephanie does exactly as she says. Ilsa has left her getaway car, a supped up BMW sedan, at the gas station and wants Stephanie to drive it North as fast as she can. Not only must she stay alive and avoid being caught for an hour but if she fails Ilsa promises she will slaughter her daughter.

Obliging immediately Stephanie screeches off in the bank robbers ride only to find she is being pursued by the entire Texas police force. Luckily for our heroine her father was a famous stunt driver who passed plenty of his skills on to his spawn and Stephanie manages to out manoeuvre the cops with a series of crazy moves.

Meanwhile Ilsa is watching the high speed chase on the RV’s TV monitoring the process and plotting her next step. Focused purely on escape with the large amount of money she has stolen she gets distracted leading Libby to make a run from her capture. After a valiant and tense attempt the teen is recaptured however this event prompts a odd respect between the kidnaper and victim and a strange relationship blossoms.

Within the action packed first 100 pages we also delve deep into Ilsa and Stephanie’s back stories, experience a shock twist involving the rest of the bank robbing crew and the first stages of Stephanie’s daring plan to foil Ilsa and secure her beloved daughters release.

Seidelman & Company publisher and editor Marco Siedelmann says, “There isn’t another novel this year that cuts as quickly to the chase as Stopping Power. Eric Red’s new thriller is tense, tough and tenacious. Once the story evolves from its simple but highly effective premise there’s no exit for the reader: a psychologically clever described mother-and-daughter relationship and a vicious villainess sure make for a hell of a ride – a purist genre narration encased in a very contemporary almost all-female action firework.”

What works so well is that Red is a cinematic author and every chapter chaotically and creatively comes to life off the page which makes reading Stopping Power like having a epic action movie play out in your own imagination.

Ideal for thriller and crime fans Stopping Power is an exciting read that will have you gripped from start to end. You can find out more about Eric Red and his books and films on his official website EricRed.com, on Facebook at OfficialEricRed, and on Twitter @ericred. To order on Amazon click the link: https://amzn.to/3asD7zT and to read more book reviews from our 100 Pages of Horror click HERE.