BRANFORD, Conn. – M.F. Pennington-Waseem ardently spins a thriller where skeletons come out of the closet at almost every turn in her latest work of condign merit. Set in a tiny hamlet nestled on the New England coast where pristine beauty masks a moral cancer seething beneath the surface, Consumed by Fire is blanketed with an intricate weaving of details that readers need to unravel as they sift through the pages.

Like many old towns, Eventide is steeped in secrets and hypocrisy, and into this maelstrom Ana Michaels arrives. Born out of time, rejected maternally, and adored by her father, all is lost after a car crash takes the lives of their parents, and Ana and sister Sarah are left to their paternal grandmother. The last link in a genetic chain of events, the affection-starved and withdrawn Ana becomes dominated by fate and family. Only after years of passivity does she finally rebel, and flee to forge a life of her own. Fast forward to a few years later, summoned by news of her grandmother’s imminent death, Ana Michaels, now a successful psychiatrist, returns home only to find herself on a collision course that radically alters her life and those around her. Sisters Ana and Sarah share a psychiatric practice, and despite warnings from violent patients and grisly murders paralyzing the community, Ana’s headstrong independence places her directly in the path of peril.

Darkness overtakes Ana after sexual assault by a trusted mentor leaves her pregnant and alone to face the consequences. As her family’s facade is stripped away, Ana becomes entrenched in the murky past of a town that buries its secrets. A series of devastating discoveries unearth underground genetic breeding in Eventide -- and even more staggering truths she wished had remained buried.

Disaster, self-discovery and notoriety happen all at once in Consumed by Fire. M.F. Pennington-Waseem has unquestionably come up with a compact thriller that is obviously the sum of pure brilliance and exquisite artistic chemistry.

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About the Author

Marianne Pennington-Waseem, R.N. received her BS from Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT; attended Saint Vincent’s School of Nursing Registered Nurse Program, Bridgeport, CT; and a MS Degree in Biology and Clinical Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport. For over twenty years, her distinguished career in nursing has provided unique insight in the field of psychiatry. Currently, she lives in Connecticut and works for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS); Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital (WFI) and Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH).

Consumed by Fire * by M.F. Pennington-Waseem

The Chronicles of Ana Michaels

Publication Date: December 7, 2011

Trade Paperback; $19.99; 347 pages; 978-1-4691-3104-7

Trade Hardback; $29.99; 347 pages; 978-1-4691-3105-4