One evening in 1954, 16-year-old Nancy Denton walked into the woods of her hometown of Whytesburg, Mississippi, and was never seen again. Two decades later, Sheriff John Gaines witnesses a harrowing discovery: A young woman has been unearthed from the riverbank, her body perfectly preserved, yet she bears evidence of a brutal ritualistic killing. Nancy has come home at last, but her return does not bring closure to her family, or to the citizens of Whytesburg. What really happened to the beautiful and vivacious Nancy? And why do her friends refuse to talk? As Gaines closes in on the truth, he is forced not only to confront his own demons, but to unearth secrets that have long remained hidden.

Detective Vincent Madigan is a good cop, but he’s up to his neck in debt to Sandia, a notorious East Harlem drug lord. When Madigan devises a scheme to eliminate his debt by robbing Sandia and then repaying him with his own money, he thinks his heist is foolproof. But things go horribly wrong when Madigan is forced to kill his co-conspirators and a child is shot in the crossfire. Now both sides of the law are hunting him down, and the cop assigned to lead the case is the very last person he could have expected. Employing every deception and ruse he can think of, Madigan must stay one step ahead in a battle of wits that will test him to his limits. Can he evade justice for his crimes, or will his own conscience be his final undoing?

Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world beyond its walls. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, and as he and his two hostages set off on a frenetic path through California down to Texas, Clarence and Elliot must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence in their wake.

Annie O’Neill has it all: a cozy Manhattan apartment, a beautiful bookshop and a network of supportive friends. But her father died in her childhood, leaving a hole she has yet to fill. When a mysterious man named Forrester enters the shop and claims to be her father’s oldest friend, she jumps at the chance to discover more. Forrester, though, seems much more interested in telling her a story about a ruthless ganglord and a decades-old betrayal --- a betrayal that has something very much to do with her.

The death of a young heroin dealer causes no great concern for NYPD Detective Frank Parrish --- Danny Lange is just another casualty of the drug war. But when Danny’s teenage sister winds up dead, questions are raised that have no clear answers. As the homicides continue --- and a disturbing pattern emerges --- Frank tries desperately to make some sense of the deaths, while battling with his own demons.

John Harper has just made a discovery: the father he believed to be dead for more than 30 years is alive, though lying in a coma in a Manhattan hospital. Harper finds himself seduced by a lifestyle that he seems to have inherited --- an underworld life of power, treachery and menace. As he desperately tries to uncover the facts of his own past, he becomes more and more entangled in a dark and shocking conspiracy.

Accused of killing his best friend Nathan, Daniel Ford has exhausted all appeals and now faces the electric chair in 30 days. Father John Rousseau is the man to whom the last month of Daniel's life has been entrusted. With time running out, Ford begins to tell his story --- beginning with his first meeting with Nathan, through first loves, Vietnam, the death of JFK, and finally their flight from the draft that ended in Nathan's brutal murder.

When Catherine Ducane disappears, the cops react rapidly --- she is the daughter of the Governor of Louisiana. Her bodyguard turns up horribly mutilated, and when her kidnapper calls he doesn't want money: he wants time alone with a functionary from a Washington-based organized crime task force.