The Next Step: The Controller's Game - The Mind of Clayton Trilling Book One A Psychological Thriller of Control, Free Will, and Mind Games. A Dark Psychological Crime Thriller: 1
Language: English
Published by Twisted Storylines Publishing, 2026
- Hardcover
- New

Seller: Revaluation Books, Exeter, United KingdomRevaluation Books
AbeBooks seller since January 6, 2003
Condition: New
£ 30.92
Quantity: 2 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
358 pages. 6.24x1.00x9.24 inches. In Stock.
Seller Inventory # x-1069806943
- Title
- The Next Step: The Controller's Game - The Mind of Clayton Trilling Book One A Psychological Thriller of Control, Free Will, and Mind Games. A Dark Psychological Crime Thriller: 1
- Author
- Shaw, Mathew J. (Author)
- Publisher
- Twisted Storylines Publishing
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- Brand New
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1069806943
- ISBN 13
- 9781069806949
- Item weight
- 0.64 kilograms
- Series
- Book 1 of 1: The Mind of Clayton Trilling
A brilliant profiler is drawn into a psychological game where guilt is manufactured and control is absolute.
The Next Step is a dark psychological thriller that pulls readers into a relentless mind game where control, manipulation, and morality collide.
Thirty years before the events of Nevaeh: The Story of the Lost, we meet Clayton Trilling—a brilliant savant, elite criminal profiler, and one of the most extraordinary minds ever known. Once a child trapped inside a silent world by autism and his savant syndrome, Clayton rewired his own brain, transforming himself into a weapon against the darkest minds humanity has to offer.
Now, as Lead Profiler for the National Bureau of Investigation, Clayton is summoned into a case unlike anything he has ever faced.
It begins with a letter.
Sealed in blood.
Marked with a warning.
Signed by something only known as The Controller.
What follows is not an investigation—it’s a psychological gauntlet.
Three houses.
Three bodies.
Seventy‑two hours.
And one terrifying question:
Why did I kill them?
As Clayton and an elite team of investigators are dragged into a meticulously designed game, the rules shift constantly. Evidence lies. Reality fractures. Assumptions become traps. Every clue is engineered to exploit how the human brain thinks—and how it fails.
The deeper they go, the more horrifying the truth becomes:
What if the killers were innocent?
What if guilt itself was engineered?
What if control could be implanted—wired directly into the brain?
And what if Clayton Trilling was never meant to stop the game…but to complete it?
A THRILLER THAT GETS INSIDE YOUR HEAD
The Next Step blends:
- Psychological thriller
- Dark mystery
- Crime fiction
- Mind‑bending suspense
- High‑stakes intellectual warfare
- Free will vs. control
- Moral responsibility
- Unethical experimentation
- Manipulation of perception
- Genius vs. madness
PERFECT FOR READERS WHO LOVE:
- Serial killer mind games
- Twisted psychological puzzles
- Dark, cerebral crime thrillers
- Profiler‑led investigations
- Morally complex villains
- Slow‑burn dread with explosive reveals
- Stories that challenge reality itself
It’s a reckoning.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Revaluation Books
Exeter, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since January 6, 2003
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 2 to 3 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 12.50 | £ 25.00 |
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Edward Bowditch Ltd
Exstowe, Exton
Exeter, United Kingdom EX3 0PP
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