Nancy Taylor Rosenberg – författare

Ten years ago, Carolyn Sullivan recommended a forty-four year sentence for vicious murderer and serial rapist Carl Holden. Cold, cunning, and without remorse, Holden was the kind of criminal the death penalty was made for, and the forensic evidence had him nailed – or so everyone thought. But when the evidence is discredited, Holden is a free man again, and Carolyn is his assigned parole officer.

To the state, Holden is a man who has served his time. But Carolyn still remembers the grieving family and the victims who have been betrayed by a miscarriage of justice. She knows Holden for what he is – a stone-cold sociopath – and she’s determined to see him behind bars forever. Then a chance traffic accident introduces Carolyn to charming and wealthy Marcus Wright, a man who seems to have as many secrets as he does bank accounts. Marcus wants Carolyn, and for the first time in a long time, Carolyn likes being wanted.

The killings start again. A body is found in the same location where Carl Holden buried his first victim. As more shocking crimes are uncovered, everything Carolyn has trusted as a professional is put to the test. With the stakes rising higher and time running out, Carolyn takes the biggest gamble of her life, one that could catch a killer or take her straight into her worst nightmare.

Carolyn knew everything about Veronica Campbell. She knew about the case of murder and retribution that haunted her life and her career. About her stormy relationship with her husband, Drew. About the emotional darkness that was overwhelming Veronica’s fragile seventeen-year-old daughter, Jude. But seeing her friend laid out on a cold hard slab of steel in a morgue, and hearing the initial judgments of the investigators, Carolyn also knows this: there’s no way Veronica would have ever taken her own life. And when Carolyn receives a note threatening her away from the case, she knows a killer is at large.

Carolyn must separate lies from truths in a world of complex relationships and battered psyches. As a hidden side of Veronica’s life emerges, including the stunning possibility that Veronica had taken a lover, Carolyn becomes increasingly involved with Veronica’s daughter, who claims her father has been abusing her for years. Trusting a person she doesn’t truly know, putting her own upcoming marriage with wealthy, charming Marcus Wright in jeopardy, Carolyn investigates the brutal murder of another young woman. With danger and deceit swirling all around her, Carolyn is determined to lure her prime suspect out of the shadows. But all the while a killer is coming straight after her.…

In her work for the Ventura County Probation Department, Carolyn Sullivan interviews the most dangerous, depraved criminals—and Raphael Moreno is at the top of the list. The hardened street thug has been convicted in a series of gruesome and baffling murders, including the decapitation of his own mother. For the first time, Carolyn is face-to-face with a criminal who truly frightens her. But things are about to get much hotter—and much deadlier for Carolyn. A phone call from her brother, Neil, propels her into a nightmare.

A popular bachelor and successful artist, Neil has discovered the body of his girlfriend, Laurel, floating in his swimming pool. When her death is ruled a homicide, Neil becomes the prime suspect. But he has an alibi—he was in bed with Melody Asher, a seductive party girl and heiress. Their torrid affair is as steamy as it is addictive, a twisted game of manipulation and sexual blackmail. When Melody refuses to back up Neil’s story, the sensitive brother Carolyn thought she knew suddenly seems like a complete stranger. And then the most shattering news surfaces: Blood found in Neil’s expensive new car links him to Raphael Moreno and his unthinkable crimes. As the evidence against Neil mounts, Carolyn is forced to ask herself troubling questions. Is he an innocent victim, or could he be hiding a darker side, a sinister streak that connects him to the brutal murders of nine people? Could the brother she loves actually be a cold-hearted, ruthless killer?

The key to everything seems to be Moreno, but getting inside his head is a treacherous game. As the danger grows and shocking secrets are revealed, a shaken Carolyn must find the courage to make the ultimate decision—whether to risk the lives of innocent people or save herself and those she loves most.