RISING WATERS
RISING WATERS
A Dark Psychological Thriller
Two girls are missing.
A town is lying.
And the truth is far more twisted than murder.
A dark atmospheric psychological thriller packed with small-town secrets, buried trauma, and shocking twists.
She escaped her past—and the man she never forgot.
Now with two girls gone missing, she's pulled back into a deadly game she may not survive.
Jillian Thorne built her career making the unreal feel real.
On Hollywood soundstages, she stages murder, kidnapping, and violent crime with chilling authenticity—turning fiction into gripping entertainment.
But nothing she’s created compares to the truth waiting in Blue Gil.
Nearly six years after escaping her small hometown, Jillian is drawn back by the suspicious death of the town’s beloved high school football coach. What first appears to be a tragic loss quickly unravels into something far more sinister—a dark mystery no one is willing to confront.
Because in Blue Gil, secrets aren’t just buried… they’re protected.
As disturbing clues surface and a brutal tragedy strikes dangerously close to home, Jillian finds herself trapped inside a real-life psychological thriller. The instincts that made her successful in Hollywood may be the key to solving the crime—or the very thing clouding her judgment.
Everyone in this small town is hiding something.
Including Jillian.
To uncover the truth, she must break through an unspoken code of silence, deception, and loyalty—and face the past she thought she left behind. Because some secrets refuse to stay buried.
And in this twisted game of suspense, trusting the wrong person could be deadly.
Have you been Aleatha’d?
*Perfect for fans of Sharp Objects, All Good People Here, and The Last House Guest, Rising Waters is a dark and addictive psychological thriller filled with buried secrets, small-town corruption, twisted family loyalties, and devastating betrayals.
This is a complete 80K stand-alone psychological thriller with a STEM FMC who needs to learn secrets before it’s too late. The only connection to Aleatha’s FEAR OF FLAMES is that our favorite podcasters from Crime Daily Podcast are back, showing the readers another perspective.
*You do not need to read Crime Daily Podcast book one, FEAR OF FLAMES before RISING WATERS.
Get your copy today
"The second installment in Romig’s Crime Daily Podcast series follows a young woman seeking clarity who returns to the hometown where she experienced soul-crushing trauma.
​
It’s been nearly six years since Jillian Thorne has been in Blue Gil, a small town in southern Michigan known for its bustling summer tourist trade and its state championship high school football team. When Jillian, who now lives in California and works as a visual-effects researcher on numerous acclaimed crime dramas, discovers that Craig Gilbert, Blue Gil’s popular football coach, has died in an apparent accident, she decides to return to her hometown in the hope of dealing with the trauma that made her leave in the first place.
Returning to the place where she grew up unearths several secrets, including the sexually predatory nature of the (now deceased) married football coach and the “game” the local teenage girls (including Thorne’s younger sister, Julie) are playing with the town’s married men. (“It’s like those girls had no limit to what they’d do. It was a game to them—probably, still is. Life is a game.”)
​
When Julie is found brutalized in an old farm shed after going missing from a graduation party, Jillian realizes that her own trauma may be connected to a darkness that’s haunted the town for years.
This is an impeccably plotted and page-turning read that requires a warning for sensitive readers. Romig pulls no punches when describing the crimes and crime scenes—they’re unapologetically violent and may disturb even the most jaded crime fiction fan. For those who can stomach the horror, the narrative is a satisfying fusion of amateur sleuth mystery and psychological thriller.
​
While this novel is part of a series, it’s essentially a stand-alone read—the Crime Daily Podcast novels are only loosely connected by their stories being covered on the popular fictional podcast.
​
Mystery fans who love jaw-dropping plot twists will applaud at novel’s end—it’s a shocker." ~ KIRKUS REVIEWS