Victor Loshak Series by E.M. Smith, L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain, E.M. Smith

He slips through the unlocked window. Creeps down the hall. A shadow standing in the bedroom doorway. Will you wake when death comes ripping? A string of brutal home invasion murders terrifies Dade County Florida. The killer strikes in the dead of the night, savages innocent people in their beds, wipes out entire families. Skewering them with his blade. Butchering them beyond recognition. Raw. Aggressive. He attacks at random. Rich. Poor. Young. Old. No one is safe... moreHe slips through the unlocked window. Creeps down the hall. A shadow standing in the bedroom doorway. Will you wake when death comes ripping? A string of brutal home invasion murders terrifies Dade County Florida. The killer strikes in the dead of the night, savages innocent people in their beds, wipes out entire families. Skewering them with his blade. Butchering them beyond recognition. Raw. Aggressive. He attacks at random. Rich. Poor. Young. Old. No one is safe. When the city sleeps, he comes alive. Stalks the night. Walks among us. The investigation is hopeless. There's little physical evidence to work with, and the killer's chaotic behavior makes him as unpredictable as he is dangerous. How can anyone make sense of such brutality? The task force leading the investigation needs a profiler, and there's only one man for the job. Loshak. Special Agent Victor Loshak. The 53 year-old likes his Dunkin' Donuts coffee shaken, not stirred. And now, for the first time, he's on his own. In recent years, Loshak has slowed down some. He relies on more wit than grit these days, often playing a mentor role to his partner, Violet Darger. Until now, she always had more than enough grit for both of them. But Darger isn't around this time, and a killer this aggressive will push Loshak to his limits. And beyond. What drives someone to such violence? And how far will Loshak have to go to stop him? Yeah, he'll need to find that grit again... or die trying. less

Some secrets don’t stay buried.Three elaborately staged victims. No clues. A public verging on panic.FBI profiler Victor Loshak heads to Kansas City to hunt another serial killer. But something about this case is all wrong.The three corpses lie posed. Face up. A glove laid to cover each right eye.The victims seem to be selected at random. Suburban. Upper middle class. Squeaky clean. It doesn’t make sense.A piece is missing from this puzzle... moreSome secrets don’t stay buried.Three elaborately staged victims. No clues. A public verging on panic.FBI profiler Victor Loshak heads to Kansas City to hunt another serial killer. But something about this case is all wrong.The three corpses lie posed. Face up. A glove laid to cover each right eye.The victims seem to be selected at random. Suburban. Upper middle class. Squeaky clean. It doesn’t make sense.A piece is missing from this puzzle.If Loshak can find the missing link that connects the victims, he believes he can solve the case. The obstacles are many, however.And the cryptic note someone left under his windshield wiper? It warns him that danger lurks all around.They bury it, and they bury it, but it won't stay dead.As Loshak digs deeper, uneasiness seems to creep over everything in the city. Paranoia. A sense of dread.Everyone he encounters seems to be keeping things from him. Concealing something.He gets a visceral sense of the lengths people will go to hide their sins. Bury them.When the suburban veneer finally strips away, all the dark secrets come clear one by one.But nothing can prepare Loshak for the shocking revelation this case unearths.Because what lies beneath the surface? It changes everything. less

The desert holds its kill up to the sun. A human body draped over the limbs of a cactus. Sand scouring the naked flesh every time the wind blows.A shocking death launches Special Agent Victor Loshak on a new investigation with an ominous message: They know everything. He heads to Tucson, Arizona, where a recent murder spree seems to be linked to the human trafficking conspiracy he's been working in secret for months.Loshak still has dreams about the Kansas City case... moreThe desert holds its kill up to the sun. A human body draped over the limbs of a cactus. Sand scouring the naked flesh every time the wind blows.A shocking death launches Special Agent Victor Loshak on a new investigation with an ominous message: They know everything. He heads to Tucson, Arizona, where a recent murder spree seems to be linked to the human trafficking conspiracy he's been working in secret for months.Loshak still has dreams about the Kansas City case. Nightmares about the team of techs peeling up the floorboards in a suburban home. Finding the rotting bodies face down in the muddy earth of the crawlspace. A grisly discovery that ultimately led to more questions than answers.Now he may be closer than ever to solving the puzzle.If you follow the conspiracy rabbit hole all the way down, you eventually reach the bottom.The task force working the desert murders seems oblivious to the conspiracy link, and Loshak must tread lightly. He doesn't know who to trust, what information to share.The tendrils of the human trafficking ring lead in all directions outward from that Kansas City crawlspace. Their influence reaches the highest levels of government and law enforcement. They have eyes and ears everywhere.Even with the complications, the Tucson case slowly unravels the web of connections behind the crimes, both the murders and the conspiracy.Questions get answered. Names and faces are laid bare. Puzzle pieces snapping into place at long last.But the revelations bring about the gravest danger yet. less