After dying in a freak accident, Matt Cahill inexplicably “wakes up” three months later with the disturbing ability to see things—terrible things—that others cannot. Drafted as a warrior in the battle between good and evil, Matt will stop at nothing to destroy the malevolent Mr. Dark. In The Dead Man Volume 5, a trio of sinister new stories tracks the reluctant hero on his nightmarish quest.Matt enters the violent world of underground cage fighting where a brutal DEATH MAT...

During the waning summer days of 1987, a deranged Vietnam vet stalks Grand Rapids, Michigan, abducting and murdering nameless victims from the streets, leaving no leads for police. That is, until he picks up sixteen-year-old Molly. From their treehouse fort in the woods, three neighborhood boys spy the killer holding a gun to Molly’s back. They go to the police—only to have their story disregarded. But the boys know evil lives in their midst. A growing sense of honor and urgency forces the...

Some mysteries are better left unsolved.It’s been fifteen years since Mandy Reasoner was murdered—a crime for which her boyfriend, Duke, was convicted. But when best friends Betty and June discover that Mandy was June’s long-forgotten aunt, they decide to pursue the mystery. Galvanized by the growing community who doubts the evidence against Duke and is rallying to free him, the two girls start on a path into a world of drugs and violence that will bring them not only to Duke himse...

Nickel is a survivor. He has to be. For as long as he can remember, his life has hinged on the flip of a coin. Or, rather, the scribble of a social worker’s pen. He’s been through the system, even had a good dad for a few years, until he was gone, too. But Nickel remembers everything he taught him, and since the day he escaped from foster-care hell, he’s put that knowledge to good use. Just twelve years old, he makes a steady living by selling marijuana to high schoolers, blackmailing pedo...

Mike is a tattoo artist running his own shop, and Deb is the piercing artist he hires to round out the motley crew at his studio of four. The last thing either expects is romance, but that’s exactly what happens when they follow their off-kilter careers and love lives into complete disaster.When Mike follows a growing trend and tattoos the ashes of deceased loved ones into several customers’ tattoos, he has no idea that it will one day provide the solution—and solace—he will sorely...

Will Daniels has fought hard to keep his demons at bay; he’s exchanged a shady past for the love of a woman he doesn’t deserve and the dream of becoming an author, all while trying to save his wayward son, Alex, from the same destructive impulses that nearly doomed him.But the demons come cackling back in the form of a detective on Will’s doorstep, bearing the news that Alex has been killed in a botched bank robbery. Worse, Alex wasn’t an innocent bystander but part of the gang tha...

Ken Richmond’s life is in the toilet. His ex-wife is out to ruin him, his kids hate him, and he’s flipping burgers at a McDonald’s. At his breaking point, he puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger. Misfire. Saved from certain death, Ken feels he has been called to a higher, darker purpose, and he devises a fiendishly simple way of getting away with it.Newbie detective Dick Van Endel teams up with veteran Phil Nelson to investigate Ken’s crimes, and they begin to clos...

Nine-year-old Cynthia Robinson’s life was perfectly normal until the day she knew, without being told, of her parents’ impending divorce. From there, things got stranger, and now not only does she have premonitions, but she can also read and influence the minds of those around her.Cynthia is not the only one with the ability to “weave”—all over the country, people with similar abilities struggle to balance their lives with their powers. Some with this gift are weavers with dark mot...