Caller No. 5 with a side of Sugar
The chloroform was starting to wear off as Brad made more noises and coughed against his gag. He moaned as Kat pushed herself to stand and he wailed when his eyes focused below. His face was red and flushed as he hung over the side. He cried and attempted to maneuver his way out from his restraints. To no avail, he couldn’t pull loose but only tightened the knots. His muscles were taxed from being drugged, dragged, starved, and shut up in the trunk for hours on end. He spit out his socks and looked around until he saw Kat standing over him.
“It’s you. You Nutty Bitch.”
Caller No. 5 by Elizabeth Blackwood is the kind of book that makes you laugh out loud and then immediately wonder if you should feel bad about it. (You shouldn’t.) It’s dark, quick-witted and deliciously uncomfortable—the literary equivalent of answering a phone call you know you shouldn’t take but doing it anyway because you’re bored and curious and maybe a little unhinged.
Blackwood has a rare gift: she understands timing. The jokes land. The tension creeps. The absurdity escalates just enough that you’re fully complicit before you realize what’s happening. It’s funny in that dry, sideways way, where the humor comes from human behavior not punchlines and it trusts the reader to keep up.
If Caller No. 5 feels confident, that’s because it is. And if it feels sharper than it has any right to be, it’s because Blackwood has already shown us what she can do.
Which brings me to Sugar.
Elizabeth Blackwood’s Sugar is a sharp, dark and addictive second novel that doesn’t just follow up on her debut, it detonates it.
Kat is back, more dangerous and compelling than ever and this time Fiona and Bucky are along for the ride; peeling back layer after layer of secrets so twisted, you’ll be dying to know all the horrible backstories. And trust me, they’re awful in the best way.
It’s like if Karin Slaughter and Agatha Christie decided to write a thriller while drinking whiskey in a haunted house. Sugar answers just enough questions to keep you grounded then sucker punches you with a revelation that makes you question everything. And when it’s over, you’ll be sitting there stunned, thinking, What the hell did I just read?
Together, Caller No. 5 and Sugar prove that Elizabeth Blackwood is operating in full control of her voice,whether she’s making you laugh, squirm or stare at the wall afterward in silence. She writes stories that bite back. And once you pick up the phone, there’s no hanging up.
Highly recommended—for readers who like their humor dark, their suspense sharp and their fiction just a little bit dangerous.
Grab you own copies here: https://a.co/d/dzzEVbG
Sugar & Static
A whisky cocktail for unanswered calls and bad decisions
Ingredients
2 oz bourbon or rye whisky (something with bite)
1 oz sweet tea (homemade, strong)
½ oz simple syrup or brown sugar syrup
½ oz fresh lemon juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Ice
Lemon peel or brûléed orange slice (optional)
Instructions
Fill a rocks glass with ice—cracked if you’re feeling dramatic.
Add the whisky, sweet tea, simple syrup, lemon juice, and bitters.
Stir slowly. Let the sugar soften the edges, not the truth.
Garnish with a twisted lemon peel or charred orange slice.
Sip carefully. This one sneaks up on you.
Tasting Notes
Starts sweet. Ends sharp. Leaves you wondering who you were before the phone rang.
Pairs Well With
Caller No. 5 — dark humor, unanswered calls, nervous laughter
Sugar — secrets, bad men, worse decisions, and one hell of a hangover