Dave Owens, a successful young businessman, is trying to repair a marriage he has seriously damaged with alcohol and addiction to work. Then a new and frightening challenge confronts him. His older brother Kyle is viciously beaten and lies in the hospital. In near panic, Dave rushes back to Springlake, his boyhood hometown, in Virginia.

A chilling puzzle begins to take shape. It involves a nearly forgotten incident during the Owens brothers' youth and Dave's personal nemesis, "Tank Hill." The brothers and their friends are being stalked by a sadistic killer who fears what they may...

"The thug was dragging Karen away when Pete finally mustered the strength to pull himself to a sitting position. He tried to move toward the door, but they had already exited. Pete watched them pass the window and the biggest, ugliest man he had ever laid eyes on literally threw Karen into the elevator. Jumbo tucked a gun into his shoulder holster. Pete flashed back to Billy's description of Percy the manimal. He'd heard Karen call his name. At least there apparently weren't two gruesome men in the world that were as ugly as this one. Pete would give a million bucks right now for a shotgun to...

"If this strong, fast progressing form of the virus were to be spread somehow to the general population, we could be facing a full-scale outbreak on a level it's hard to imagine. It could turn into a pandemic that would kill thousands, maybe even millions, before we could get it under control-if we can control it "

Forces are being developed that could replace nuclear power as the world's scourge. They begin as tiny molecules altered to do the bidding of ruthless terrorists-the marriage of bioscience and nanotechnology to produce a massive pandemic.

Four close friends, Dan Cooper, Jud...

Dave Owens, a successful young businessman, is trying to repair a marriage he has seriously damaged with alcohol and addiction to work. Then a new and frightening challenge confronts him. His older brother Kyle is viciously beaten and lies in the hospital. In near panic, Dave rushes back to Springlake, his boyhood hometown, in Virginia.

A chilling puzzle begins to take shape. It involves a nearly forgotten incident during the Owens brothers' youth and Dave's personal nemesis, "Tank Hill." The brothers and their friends are being stalked by a sadistic killer who fears what they may...

"The thug was dragging Karen away when Pete finally mustered the strength to pull himself to a sitting position. He tried to move toward the door, but they had already exited. Pete watched them pass the window and the biggest, ugliest man he had ever laid eyes on literally threw Karen into the elevator. Jumbo tucked a gun into his shoulder holster. Pete flashed back to Billy's description of Percy the manimal. He'd heard Karen call his name. At least there apparently weren't two gruesome men in the world that were as ugly as this one. Pete would give a million bucks right now for a shotgun to...

"Carl and I must make twenty trips back and forth carrying wounded to those who can offer comfort and medical aid. Each time I look at our litter-now covered with blood and gore-and wonder whether we've done our bit in time. Others scurry about clearing the aftermath of the battle. Burial details are already working to inter the dead before daylight and scavengers descend on this killing ground. The smell is worse than any hog butchering I was ever a party to. Already I can hear the buzz of flies and see the beady little eyes of small animals drawn to the smell of fresh blood. We stand over...

Police Detective Nick Bolt is a career crime fighter and an aspiring novelist. Through two unrelated incidents, he has acquired a strange but highly useful talent. A childhood accident gives him both his nickname 'Lightning' and the ability to conjure up mental visions. Years later, a criminal's bullet expands his ability to touching inanimate objects and mentally picturing the people and surroundings through which those items have passed.

Lightning Bolt's unique abilities and police training are severely tested when a relentless adversary from his past reappears. His enemy wages a...