The Devil Pulls the Strings is the pulse-pounding first tale in the Archivist series.

Set in modern-day Wentzville, MO, New York City, and 1813 Genoa, Italy, weaves bromance, Slavic mythology, secret societies, Paganini’s music, and time travel.

Twenty-two-year old Boone Daniels has problems, debilitating panic attack, gut-wrenching guilt, a wendigo haunting him since age six, and now he almost killed his best friend in a joust. But when he fills in for his injured friend at a New York gig, he goes to meet the gig’s contact at his NYC brownstone. A body falls from the brownstone balcony and the place explodes with gun fire. Boone barely escapes but uncovers a sinister plot to perform a rare Paganini piece that summons the Devil to trap Baba Yaga and destroy modern-day New York City.

He then finds himself on a race through time, to capture the cursed melody. Along the way, a Romani immortal, steampunk vampires, and Baba Yaga set the stage for war, and Boone shall have to risk death for redemption. All Boone wants is to keep a promise to a friend. The same friend, he almost killed last Sunday during a joust.

Can a small-town Missouri musician outplay the supernatural and save NYC’s soul? If you like when tortured heroes, epic battles, time travel, twisted history, and secret societies collide, then you’ll love J. W. Zarek’s spectacular pause-resister.