As a cop, Jack Carpenter believed in justice, and sometimes that didn't always coincide perfectly with following the law. Now, as a specialist called in when people disappear, he struggles to overcome his reputation as a bad cop. He needed to save his marriage and get right in his own head.
Jack's gift is finding people. But when he's on the trail of a killer who plays "Midnight Rambler" as he kills women, the convoluted path leads him everywhere but to the truth. As he struggles to put his personal life back together and regain the trust of his cop brethren, Jack starts seeing the small pieces that build to create the whole. He will catch the man who has cold-bloodedly murdered so many women -- but maybe not before he kills again.
This eerie, chilling book by James Swain will pester your dreams for weeks. You might even need a night light! Swain gives us a hero who isn't completely heroic, a killer who is utterly soulless and a story that will make you sweat. What a gift!
In South Florida, Jack Carpenter is infamous. He's the cop
who busted the notorious serial killer Simon Skell -- aka
the Midnight Rambler -- and sacrificed his badge and
marriage in the process. Haunted by the Skell case,
Carpenter now works as an abduction specialist in Fort
Lauderdale, reuniting families with their missing children.
But the body of one of the Midnight Rambler's victims has
just been uncovered -- and forensic evidence suggests
Carpenter jailed the wrong man. With Skell just days away
from release, the tarnished hero must reopen the case that
shattered his life and the lives of eight murdered women.
As waves of heat and rain wash over the steamy streets,
Carpenter races against the clock to reaffirm the case
against Skell. Yet the deeper he digs, the more he starts
to realize that Skell is just one piece in a terrifying
puzzle of predation and murder, just one player in a
shocking conspiracy that ranges across the state of
Florida. And as the relentless Carpenter draws the net
tighter, his enemies prepare to spring a devastating final
surprise.
From the seaside bar that Jack Carpenter calls home to the
glittering tourist kingdom in Orlando to the funky jungle
of Coconut Grove, James Swain unleashes a wild ride into
the heart of evil -- with the Rolling Stones' "Midnight
Rambler" as the throbbing, terrifying soundtrack.
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