The Ancients locked them out.
The lock broke.

“Great Scary Story.” Pat Conroy
“I slept with the lights on for two weeks.”

“The world of the Long Claws is a terrifying hell.”

Two clans: one is human. Each wants survival. They cannot co-exist.

Pete Mason is a fifteen-year-old runaway. He’s never fit in, and he is fed-up with trying. With no idea the Mason clan members don’t fit society for a reason, an ancient reason, fate leads him to a long-lost relative, just in time to do what he was born to -- stop creatures from another world.
Cut off by rain-swollen rivers: an old veteran with a secret, Pete Mason, and a Cherokee medicine woman face horrific creatures – the Long Claws, a clan of perfect predators evolved to track and kill at lightning speed.
In their world, all death is by predation. To sleep is to die. Staying still too long invites death. Parched, broken earth with active volcanoes is their vista. Low roiling clouds thick with sulfur conceal flying creatures great and small. Barriers of plants patiently wait to kill beasts to nourish their roots. All life has a niche to survive – for a short time.
An ancient doorway opens, and a clan slips through.
The human world presents unknowns and discomforts. They discover humans, slow and lacking teeth or claws, have new lethal ways of fighting back.
Once aware of the Long Claws’ presence, the small clan of humans becomes formidable and determined.
The Long Claws do not come in anger, rage, or revenge. They come to eat. It is their nature to kill and consume food. They are without human emotions. They are intelligent and have a social structure. They possess forty million years of genetic evolution, driving survival.
They want to stay here, hidden and breed.
There can be no witnesses to their existence.

REVIEWERS
“Unbelievable world building”
“powerful story, characters, and chills – this book has everything”
“the best horror I’ve read since Stephen King”
“he creates a hellish world with horrific creatures”
“thrilled and impressed by Peek’s ability to pull readers into his story”
“half afraid to turn the page”
“amazing flair for description”
“Grisham-like Painted House feel to the simple rhythms he portrays”
“I read Longclaws straight through. The book is that good”
“it made me believe it could be real”
“the stuff of nightmares.”
“I was swept into darkly fabulous storytelling”
“Instead of struggling to finish the book, I was thinking about the book when doing other things.”
“5 Stars! It is well written, hard to put down, character development, the way the author tied everything together, and the fact that every time I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong!”
“I was thrilled and impressed by Peek’s ability to transport readers to another world”

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THE #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER! From the author of the international best-seller The Stone Man, shortlisted for Audible UK's Book of the Year Award 2015

What do the dead do when they can't leave...and don't know why?
The afterlife doesn't come with a manual. In fact, Hart and Bowler (two ordinary, but dead men) have had to work out the rules of their new existence for themselves. It's that fact (along with being unable to leave the boundaries of their city centre, unable to communicate with the other lost souls, unable to rest in case The Beast should catch up to them, unable to even sleep) that makes getting out of their situation a priority.
But Hart and Bowler don't know why they're there in the first place, and if they ever want to leave, they will have to find all the answers in order to understand the physics of the dead: What are the strange, glowing objects that pass across the sky? Who are the living people surrounded by a blue glow? What are their physical limitations in that place, and have they fully explored the possibilities of what they can do?
Time is running out; their afterlife was never supposed to be this way, and if they don't make it out soon, they're destined to end up like the others. Insane, and alone forever...

In this creeping, mysterious debut novel from the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller THE STONE MAN, the richly-built world of THE PHYSICS OF THE DEAD will slowly draw you in with an icy grip until you are left gasping.

PRAISE FOR LUKE SMITHERD'S WRITING:
"... a novel that intrigues, enthralls, horrifies, thrills, and hits the reader with an emotional resonance as only the best stories can." - Ain't It Cool News.com
... strong characterization, moral quandaries, mystery, and a whole lot of tense moments. Reading the final sentence was truly a bittersweet moment." - SFsignal.com, Hugo award-winning website

"I couldn't help myself and read this is one sitting" - simon211175, Amazon Vine Voice

"Fantastically written characters who make you care about them right from the off." - Andy Pettifer

"It was one of those books where you tell yourself you will read just one more page, then look at the clock and realise that it's 2 hours later. I would thoroughly recommend it" - Elaine Hosegood

"I have owned a Kindle for about 2 years and downloaded some excellent books for very little cost but Luke Smitherd's works beat the lot" - Silversmith, Amazon UK Review

"As soon as I started reading I was completely sucked in, which very rarely happens for me. I couldn't wait to get home and read it each night. I laughed. I cried. I did actual real life gasps of horror." - Katie, Amazon Review

"I spend a lot of time trawling through the kindle book store looking for cheap books, relying on reviews to make my purchases. I have come across some less than average books using this method, but also some real gems. This book definitely falls into the latter category. It had me gripped from page one." - Steve Sut, Amazon UK Review

"This story could, probably should, be made into a movie at some point. I honestly have to believe that Smitherd should contact a producer/director and make a fabulous movie deal. Totally enjoyed the read." - Bonnie Gleckler Clark, Goodreads
Want to download the first few pages of this book for FREE so that you can try before you buy? Click the 'Send sample now' button on the upper right hand side of this page to do just that!
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Ten strangers trapped in time...A ticking sound fills the air as Tim MacGregor enters The Daily Edition Café to meet his new girlfriend for coffee. Moments later, the café is transported 67 million years back in time, along with everyone inside.Time is running out as ten unlikely companions search for a way home, while one member of the group plots to keep them all in the past.Who will survive?