They take turns with the knife, cutting their thumbs open. A drop of blood lands on the dark wooden table. Eyes meet across the room. All four thumbs are pressed against each other one by one. Blood is shared, secrets buried. Years later a brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd at a movie theater in Miami and sends a chill through the entire nation. When human remains are discovered in the dense forest next to a biking trail in Brevard County, it is only the beginning of a series of gruesome murders which will shock the entire Space Coast.

The first heart-stopping, enthralling serial-killer thriller in the million-copy best-selling Jack Ryder Mystery series. Ben is supposed to be in school. It's Monday morning, but his parents are still asleep after a night of heavy drinking. Ben waits patiently, even though he knows he is missing out on today's field trip to the zoo. But, when his black Labrador suddenly runs upstairs and comes down with a finger in his mouth, Ben knows he's not making it to school today at all.   

When 12-year-old Sophie Williams went on a Girl Scout summer camp, she never returned home. Three months later, her body is found inside her sleeping bag in the most frequented area of Cocoa Beach, and the town is outraged. The girl isn't just any child. She's the town's most beloved surf idol, and it was believed that she could be the next Kelly Slater. As another child, the son of a well-known senator is kidnapped, and the parents receive a disturbing video. FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas, who has just returned to her hometown, divorced and out of a job, plunges into the investigation.

In Savannah, lies a house about which is said that all who have ever lived there have gone insane. When Kimberly and Joseph inherit the house from an unknown aunt, they don’t know the house’s murderous history.  They move in, and soon, a series of strange events occur. It’s like the house doesn’t want them there. Little by little, Joseph starts to change, and soon, Kimberly begins to wonder: Is the house haunted, or is her husband just going mad?

Three girls disappear on prom night at the local high school. One of them is the prom queen. FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas is chasing her long-lost sister when detective and boyfriend Matt Miller asks her to join the investigation of the three girls’ disappearance. They were last seen walking home together after the dance. When the body of a young girl shows up in her backyard, Eva Rae knows she can no longer watch from the sidelines, and soon, she realizes that not only is she involved in this investigation, she’s also this killer’s target.

Life is not done throwing Eva Rae Thomas curveballs. A phone call turns her life upside down - once again. The call is from her father, the man she hasn’t seen in 36 years, not since he kidnapped her sister in a supermarket. Now, he is back in Florida, and he needs her help. Her younger brother - who she didn’t know existed - has been arrested on Amelia Island. The boy is in a coma after being shot by an officer during the incident. But his father doesn’t believe the police, and he asks for Eva Rae’s help to prove it.

Ella Maria Chauncey walks home after a night out with her friends, hurrying to get back before her parents realize she's been out with the boy they don't want her to date. Living in the gated community of Lyford Cay, in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods, she believes it is safe. Ella Maria never makes it home. She is found the next day floating in her family's pool, her tongue cut out. Seven months later, Jack Ryder is visiting the Bahamas with his adopted daughter Emily. They're trying to find Emily's relatives, but it turns out to be easier said than done.

When detective Jack Ryder is going skiing with his family in the mountains of North Carolina, he hopes for a week of fun in the snow with the ones he loves. But then the body of a teenage boy turns up in the cold waters of the creek behind the cabin they have rented. Don’t tell or you might be next. The find shocks the rural community of Maggie Valley and rattles local law enforcement. What happened to the boy is more than strange. 

He came in the morning when they were still making lunches and getting ready for school and work. He killed them all - mother, father, and children. Brutally slaughtered them in the comfort of their own home. They called him the Monday Morning Killer. That was 40 years ago, but now, it is happening again. A mother and her daughter are brutally murdered in their house on a peaceful Monday morning in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Three women went on a road trip to Key West. Only two returned. When asked what happened, their stories don’t completely match. Who is telling the truth? What are they hiding? Detective Harry Hunter of the Miami PD is in church on a peaceful Sunday morning, when a young teenager pulls out a gun and shoots his own father. Once the shock is gone, Harry starts to ask himself the question no one else seems to care about: What makes a young boy want to kill his own father?