The Elliott Mercer series
Where the Missing Go
Tentatively planned for November 2026
Suspense · Thriller · Horror · Dark Romantasy
Where darkness takes root,
stories begin.
Kendall Kirkbride writes stories shaped by secrets, obsession, and the dangerous space between what we know and what we fear.
Discover the writingPublished work
Debut novel · Book one of the Elliott Mercer series
The Quiet Between Us
Twenty-five years ago, eight-year-old Emma Mercer disappeared from Blackridge, Ohio. No body was found. No one was arrested. After years of searches and unanswered questions, her older brother Elliott did the only thing he knew how to do: he left.
Now his father is dead, and Elliott has returned to the town he spent half his life trying to forget. Hidden among Thomas Mercer’s belongings is evidence that he never stopped searching for Emma—and that shortly before his death, he may finally have found something.
As Elliott follows a trail of conflicting memories, old stories, and questions leading back to the woods where Emma was last seen, the past becomes less certain. Blackridge has spent twenty-five years telling itself a story about what happened to Emma. Thomas died believing that story was wrong.
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Published
The Dead Gods · Book one
When Gods Wake
The gods have been dead for centuries. Caldris built an empire from their remains.
Dr. Sera Voss has spent eleven years studying the anatomy of Aestra, the dead god beneath the city. She knows every vessel, chamber, and impossible structure carved into the divine body. More importantly, she knows dead things don’t move.
Then a cutter dies inside a chamber that shouldn’t have been able to kill him—and something shifts beneath Sera’s hand.
Someone knows what is happening beneath the city. Someone has worked very hard to keep it hidden. And if Sera is right, Aestra may not be the only god who was never truly dead.
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Published September 2026
Upcoming
The stories taking shape now.
Forthcoming books and stories still waiting in the shadows.
The Elliott Mercer series
What the Dead Remember
Planned for summer 2027
Beyond the current drafts
Three standalone horror, suspense, and thriller novels are also planned.
About the author
Kendall
Kirkbride
Kendall Kirkbride is an Ohio-based author whose work moves through psychological suspense, crime thriller, gothic mystery, horror, and dark romantasy.
Outside of writing, Kendall is a licensed chemical dependency counselor (LCDC III) working as a primary therapist in substance-use treatment. She earned her undergraduate degree in criminal justice and is pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling, with concentrations in addiction counseling and forensic counseling, as she prepares for doctoral study in forensic psychology.
Her debut novel, The Quiet Between Us, opens the Elliott Mercer series, followed by Where the Missing Go and What the Dead Remember. Her dark romantasy novel When Gods Wake opens the planned five-book series The Dead Gods. Three additional standalone horror, suspense, and thriller novels are also planned.
The stories are only beginning.
Contact
Get in touch.
For reader messages, media inquiries, and book-related correspondence.
hello@kendallkirkbride.com