Where the Ashes Speak

The Ember Gospel

By: JT Wilkinson

Narrated by: Ben Howard

The wildfire took everything… but the truth still burns.

Ten years ago, Fire Captain Aiden Reyes was the sole survivor of a mysterious wildfire that claimed his entire crew. Branded a disgrace, haunted by guilt, and exiled from the front lines, he’s traded in his turnout gear for an investigator’s badge in the forgotten town of Santa Mesa—a place where secrets smolder just beneath the surface.

When a string of suspicious fires reignites old nightmares, Aiden begins to uncover a chilling conspiracy: a fire-worshipping cult hiding in plain sight, manipulating the flames to erase sins, silence witnesses, and offer sacrifices to something far older than justice. With the help of Lily Lumen—a librarian with a tragic past and secrets of her own—Aiden must walk the fire line between truth and madness, faith and fear. But as the ashes begin to whisper and the fires close in, Aiden realizes the greatest blaze isn’t the one outside… it’s the one burning inside him. Some towns bury the past. Santa Mesa burns it.

For fans of psychological and mystery thrillers, Where the Ashes Speak is a genre-defying thriller that blends crime, fire investigation, cult horror, and existential reckoning into an unforgettable inferno of a novel.

©2025 JohnTyler Wilkinson (P)2026 John Tyler Wilkinson