About the Book
In the United Kingdom, glowing red letters are appearing above the heads of some of the population.
In a tense and gripping thriller, Stigma takes readers on a chilling journey through a United Kingdom gripped by fear and uncertainty. Glowing red letters hover ominously above the heads of select individuals, marking them in ways that society can’t ignore.
For Orville, the prospect of his secret being revealed forces him to flee the only home he’s ever known. Meanwhile, ruthless gang member Michael sees a chance to use the letters to take control, finally getting the power he craves.
Amidst the turmoil, Prime Minister Samantha Graveson finds herself cornered by an electorate that demands answers she cannot provide. Father Steven, a priest, on the verge of leaving the church, grapples with the appearance of the letters. If this is divine intervention, why punish the innocent?
As the letters spread, they ignite a nationwide crisis, leading many to question everything they thought they knew about their family and friends.
Read an Excerpt
The flight attendant sat in the first-class cabin on the journey from JFK to Dubai. She could finally take a few moments to herself and relax. All the passengers were sleeping. With no turbulent weather, the majority were likely to stay that way for the duration of the flight.
She watched as the duty barman ducked into one of the two toilets behind the bar. He shouldn’t be using them. They were off-limits to the crew. From the moment the passengers had boarded, he’d been working almost non-stop. The New Year’s Eve/Day flights were always busy for the bar staff. The start of that year had been no different.
Raising her arm, she activated the display on her smartwatch. It was 1:17am; the journey seemed to be taking longer than normal.
She shifted in her seat and turned to face one of the many monitors built into the bulkhead walls. An infomercial encouraging passengers to make purchases from the on-board duty-free shop was playing. She’d watched it so many times she knew it off by heart. Pressing a button with a green map icon, she selected the location channel. The screen flickered as the image changed to a small yellow plane positioned on a white dotted line in the centre of a dark blue background, showing the route the flight was taking. Towards the bottom of the screen, a small irregularly-shaped area of green denoted a land mass.
We should be over the United Kingdom by now.
That meant the green shape must be somewhere north of the mainland, most likely the northernmost part of the Shetland Isles. If everything went well, they should land in just over six hours.
Halfway down the cabin on the right-hand side, a red light appeared above one of the window seats. At first, she took no notice. She’d done enough flights over the last fifteen years to know that passengers carried a varied assortment of electronic devices. Most of them produced illumination of some sort. It took several seconds for her to realise this one couldn’t be from a mobile phone or tablet. Normally, there would be a glow as the light from a screen hit the particles in the air and reflected off them. That wasn’t the case here. This was different. Her curiosity piqued; she twisted in her seat to get a clearer look at it.
Hanging in the air was a red letter T. It appeared to be almost twelve inches tall, eight inches wide at the top, and possibly had some depth, though she couldn’t be certain. She stared at it for several seconds, unable to understand what she was looking at.