**'Superior horror literature'** New York Times**'A story so scary you may never want to go on vacation again'** USA Today**'There's no let-up, not so much as a chapter-break where you can catch your breath'** Stephen King**'Smith has tapped into our collective fear that nature is finally battling back and given us a decidedly organic nightmare'** Gillian Flynn__________________Craving an adventure to wake them ...

Are Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Rob Bell "yesterday's news," as many evangelicals seem to think? Truth and the New Kind of Christian (2005) tried to provide a balanced assessment of McLaren's and Jones's views. But, they seem to be right about much more that is affecting evangelicals than was realized then. Also, that book misunderstood one of their core claims: everything is interpretation. Moreover, their views have developed over the years, e.g., ethically about colonial...

I don’t even know if the call is real. All I know is there is some girl on the line saying her name is Della Snow and that she is trapped inside a box right now.It started as a quiet night, a much needed reprieve for the overworked team of Detective Reed Mattox and his K-9 partner Billie. With just a single phone call from dispatch, both are plunged into a nightmare they could have never imagined.Somewhere in the greater Columbus area, a young twenty-someth...

Six months have passed since the first murder investigation Detective Reed Mattox and his K-9 partner worked together, finding them in the throes of a steamy Midwestern summer.Working in The Bottoms, a notorious neighborhood on the west side of Columbus, they expect the usual increase in low-level crime the hottest months tend to bring but nothing compared to this.Bodies begin piling up at an alarming rate. Battling against the heat and the clock, they must...

“I know you and I have been through some things,” Reed whispered. “Some crazy, crazy stuff. But we have never - and will never - work a case as important as this one.”Eighteen months ago, Detective Reed Mattox didn’t just lose his partner, the woman he met on his first day at the police academy and worked with for the entirety of his career thereafter. He lost his confidante. His sounding board. His support system.His best friend.Victim to ...

Less than a week before Christmas, Columbus Detective Reed Mattox and his K-9 partner receive a call from dispatch.The body of a young woman has been found floating in the Olentangy River, her teeth forcibly removed, her fingerprints obliterated, any chance at a positive identification residing only within the string of inexplicable tattoos inked across the bottom of her feet.Across town, an organization has taken hold in the North End, capitalizing on the ...

What do you do when somebody targets one of your own?Alone on the couch one night, Reed and his partner are both summoned to the hospital to find two of their colleagues have been viciously attacked, left for dead on the side of the road with very little evidence to go on. With emotions high and the entire department vowing revenge, Captain Grimes assigns the case to Reed and Billie, offering them any resources available in finding the culprit.What was at f...

Working in law enforcement imparts certain things in a man. The smell of gunpowder in the air. The sight of blood spatter at a crime scene.And the amount of trouble a woman is in by the pitch of her scream.Six weeks prior, on the heels of the most hellish case he could ever remember, Detective Reed Mattox and his K-9 partner, Billie, were placed on administrative leave from the Columbus Police Department. Fearful of what the media might say, the brass decided to pu...

On the second story of a low-rent apartment complex, two women are found murdered, the scene awash with blood.One is a young nun from the local school, seeming to have had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other is a local celebrity for all the wrong reasons, recently ousted from public office and trying desperately to claw her way back into the spotlight.Called in to investigate are two people who could not be more different...

Saying nothing in return, Reed listened as the phone cut out, the forest returning to relative silence around them.His hands still cupping the underside of his partner’s face, he tilted his own down to match it, feeling the damp warmth of her fur against his skin.“This girl just saved my ass,” he whispered. “That’s what the hell happened.”For the past two months, Detective Reed Mattox and his K-9 partner Billie were in limbo. Victims of the...

A new life in New Orleans is all Jason Thorpe had hoped: his quaint little store attracts a devoted staff and his warm, loving heart grants him a loyal circle of friends. He's perfectly content, having left behind the chill of a confusing and danger-filled night in Washington, until he discovers something unbelievable lurking in the steamy darkness of the shadowy streets of the Vieux Carré, something that turns out to be terrifying... and utterly mesmerizing. The prince of the vampyrs, Var...

Approach the future as a conversation, not a declaration.How can you be prepared for what's next when emerging trends constantly threaten to turn your strategic plan on its head? The world of business is experiencing a state of hyperchange influenced by global movements, disruptive technologies, political uprisings and new consumer expectations. If your world is turned upside down, will you know how to pivot and thrive, or will you be roadkill in the 'adapt or die'...