Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Book #36 - Before He Kills

In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun.

Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen.

With the FBI called in, together, an intense manhunt ensues. Mackenzie, reeling from her own dark past, her failed relationships, and her undeniable attraction to the new FBI agent, finds herself battling her own demons as her hunt for the killer takes her to the darkest places of her mind. As she delves into the killer’s mind, obsessing over his twisted psychology, she finds that evil truly does exist. She only hopes it will not be too late to extricate herself from it, as her entire life collapses around her.

As more bodies turn up dead and a frantic race against time ensues, there is no way out but to find him before he kills again.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Book #35 - Once Taken

Women are being murdered in upstate New York, their bodies found mysteriously hanging in chains. With the FBI called in, given the bizarre nature of the murders—and the lack of any clues—there is only one agent they can turn to: Special Agent Riley Paige.

Riley, reeling from her last case, is reluctant to take on a new one, since she is still convinced a former serial killer is out there, stalking her. She knows, though, that her ability to enter a serial killer’s mind and her obsessive nature is what will be needed to crack this case, and she just can’t refuse—even if it will push her over the edge.

Riley’s search takes her deep into a killer’s deluded mind as it leads her to orphanages, mental hospitals, prisons, all in an effort to understand the depth of his psychosis. Realizing she is up against a true psychopath, she knows time is short before he strikes again. But with her own job on the line and her own family a target, and with her fragile psyche collapsing, it may all be too much for her—and too late.

Book #34 - Once Gone

Women are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige.

Riley is on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial killer, and, fragile as she is, the FBI is reluctant to tap her brilliant mind. Yet Riley, needing to battle her own demons, comes on board, and her hunt leads her through the disturbing subculture of doll collectors, into the homes of broken families, and into the darkest canals of the killer’s mind. As Riley peels back the layers, she realizes she is up against a killer more twisted than she could have imagined. In a frantic race against time, she finds herself pushed to her limit, her job on the line, her own family in danger, and her fragile psyche collapsing.

Yet once Riley Paige takes on a case, she will not quit. It obsesses her, leading her to the darkest corners of her own mind, blurring the lines between hunter and hunted. After a series of unexpected twists, her instincts lead her to a shocking climax that even Riley could not have imagined.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Book #33 - Five Days in May

A young pastor who lost his faith when his wife died, Mac plans to resign from his church and leave the ministry on Friday—to “kill” the reverend Mac MacIntosh. His father-in-law, Jonas, has an uglier death planned for that day. Jonas doesn’t see it as murder, though. He sees it as a final act of love to rescue his precious Maggie from the fog of Alzheimer’s. Mac’s 16-year-old daughter, Joy, isn’t planning to murder anybody on Friday, either. It’s just a clump of cells, right? It’s not a real person… is it? 

Then Mac agrees to meet daily for five days with someone else who has death plans for Friday, and everything in the lives of the MacIntosh family begins to change. A mysterious death row inmate called Princess knows things she can’t possibly know about Mac and his family, sees things she can't possibly see, and she speaks into his life with an insight and clarity that rock his world. Princess has her own burden to bear, though—a secret she is determined to carry to her grave about the little sister she confessed to beheading 14 years ago.

All four of the people with death on Friday’s calendar will stand—or be hurled to their knees—before the Reaper that day, so close they’ll feel his cold breath on their necks.
But will any of them come to the crossroads of living and dying by the path they’d planned? 
Or leave the crossroads alive?