In her small hometown of Bottom Springs, Louisiana, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar --- and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town's secret underbelly in search of true evil.

Alexis Stone, a shy school librarian, meets Logan at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’ opposite. Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. It turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career --- and jeopardize Alexis’ job --- until a solution is proposed: he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until Election Day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works. By senior year, Shay and her friend, Laurel, were the only ones who managed to escape. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel's death eight years later --- delivered by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader --- she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive. Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend's life, she's pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to Duquette University. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see --- confident, beautiful, indifferent. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby's murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she'd been closest to since freshman year. But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette 10 years ago, and not everyone can let Heather's murder go unsolved. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night --- and the years' worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.

Lee Stone kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company. After work she is “Stoner,” drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed. That’s because Lee has learned never to trust love. Four major heartbreaks set her straight, from her father cheating on her mom all the way to Ben Laderman in grad school --- who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind. Then Ben shows up five years later, working as a policy expert for the most liberal governor in Texas history, just as Lee is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Things get complicated --- and competitive --- as Lee and Ben are forced to work together.