In NOT LIKE US (Book #1) by Ava Strong, FBI Special Agent Ilse Beck barely escaped a serial killer in the Pacific Northwest—and now, he is hunting her again. Or is he? Beck, a niche expert in serial killer survivors, has faced many monsters, and seen shocking cases—but this one may be the worst of all. Nothing can prepare Ilse for her new patient, a survivor from a near murder by a serial killer. The patient, paranoid, believes she is still being watched by the killer. And when the killer claims a new victim, the FBI needs Ilse’s help to solve it. This case and this killer, though, strike too close to home for Ilse’s comfort. When she realizes that she herself is being targeted, the trauma of her own past comes full circle. Can Ilse use her brilliant instincts to enter the mind of this killer and stop him before he strikes again? And will she save herself?
In THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1) by Blake Pierce, criminal profiler-in-training Jessie Hunt is sure she's finally put the darkness of her childhood behind her. She and her husband, Kyle, just moved from a cramped downtown Los Angeles apartment into a Westport Beach mansion. Kyle's promotion has them swimming in money, and Jessie is on the verge of getting her master’s degree in forensic psychology. But soon after their arrival, Jessie begins to notice a series of strange developments. The neighbors—and their au pairs—all seem to be hiding secrets. The mysterious yacht club Kyle is desperate to join is rife with cheating spouses, and with troubling rules of its own. And the notorious serial killer being held at the psychiatric hospital where Jessie is completing her degree seems to know more about her life than is normal—or safe. As her world starts to unravel, Jessie begins to question everything around her—including her own sanity. Has she truly uncovered a disturbing conspiracy buried within a sunny, wealthy Southern California beach town? Does the mass murderer she's studying really somehow know the origin of her private nightmares? Or has her tortured past finally come back to claim her?M.F