Barista Ethan Falk chases a customer into the parking lot and kills him. He tells police that years ago the older man abducted and tortured him. Then Ethan's story takes an even stranger turn: he says he was rescued by a guy named Scorpion. Of course, there is no record of either the kidnapping or the rescue, because Scorpion --- Jonathan Grave --- operates outside the law and leaves no evidence. As Grave struggles to find a way to defend his former precious cargo without blowing his cover, he learns the dead man has secrets that trace to an ongoing terrorist plot against the heart of America.

Hunting along the edge of his property, Landreaux Iron accidentally kills his neighbor's five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich. Horrified at what he’s done, the recovered alcoholic turns to an Ojibwe tribe tradition --- the sweat lodge --- for guidance and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution, he and his wife, Emmaline, will give their son, LaRose, to Dusty's grieving parents. But when a vengeful man with a long-standing grudge against Landreaux begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died, he threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole.

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.

Jock Algren arrives on Longboat Key in a state of depression and hopelessness. His most recent mission for his secretive U.S. government intelligence agency has been disastrous, and his friends Matt Royal and J. D. Duncan aren’t sure they’ll be able to pull him out of his despair. Duncan is investigating a cold case when the brother of the victim shows up on the island and complicates the investigation. A grizzled sailor brings his boat into a local marina, and bodies begin to accumulate. A Middle East jihadist intent on revenge locks on to Jock’s clandestine past, bringing a deadly chase to the last outpost in the continental U.S. --- Key West.

Jill Lassiter’s three-year-old daughter disappears from a playground only to return after 40 frantic minutes of searching, but the mother’s relief is short-lived --- there’s a tiny puncture mark on Sophia’s arm. When doctors can find no trace of drugs in Sophia’s system, Jill accepts she’ll never know what happened, but at least her child is safe. Except Sophia isn’t. Someone is watching the Lassiter home in an affluent Pennsylvania suburb, infiltrating the family’s personal and professional lives. As Jill faces every parent’s worst nightmare a second time, she must find out who has taken her daughter and why. Someone doesn’t just want Sophia for her own --- she’s out to destroy Jill’s entire family.

When young minister Noah and his dutiful wife arrive at their new post in the hills, they find a gray and wet little town where it's been raining for as long as anyone can remember. Noah's wife is determined to help her husband revive this soggy congregation, but soon finds her efforts thwarted by her eccentric new neighbors. As the river water swallows up the houses, the telephone poles and the single highway out of town, Noah, his wife and the townspeople must confront not only the savage forces of nature but also the fragile ties that bind them to one another.

Jammer Davis has spent most of his life investigating aircraft accidents. When a small regional jet disappears over the jungles of Colombia, it is a tragedy like dozens of others he has seen, but for one terrible detail: his young daughter is listed on the passenger manifest. The possibility of a hijacking looms large as the search begins to focus on two passengers who boarded the plane, yet their remains cannot be found. Davis uncovers an even more sinister plot behind the entire disaster --- one that goes to the highest levels of the US government. But how could it possibly involve his daughter?

For nine long days, the mayor and district attorney of Reno, Nevada, have been missing. Enter Mortimer Angel, Reno’s newest gumshoe, a private-eye-in-training at his nephew’s detective agency. Just four hours into his new career, Mort finds the mayor --- make that, the mayor’s head --- in the trunk of Mort’s ex-wife’s Mercedes. As events begin to spin out of control, Mort realizes that things have been out of control since the night before he started his new career, the night he found the unknown naked blonde in his bed.

Not long after joining the police force, Officer Randy Spelling mistakenly shoots and kills a pregnant teenager. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, she is desperate to apologize to the girl’s family. The results of her attempt are catastrophic. Police psychologist Dr. Dot Meyerhoff plunges herself into the investigation, despite orders from the police chief to back off. Her refusal to obey orders jeopardizes not only her career but her life as well, as she enlists unlikely allies and unconventional undercover work to expose the tangled net of Officer Spelling’s disastrous course.

Matt Royal has agreed to defend his good friend and wife of Longboat Key’s police chief, Abby Lester, who has been charged with the murder of the unlikable and shady Nate Bannister. Matt cannot refuse Abby’s pleas for help, despite having retired from the practice of law several years earlier. Police, politicians, academics, real estate moguls and other powerful forces are tied together in a cauldron of issues that Matt must untangle to get at the truth. Can he rekindle his legal skills and outwit the prosecution pitted against him? Matt knows he must, as the life of his friend hangs in the balance.