Patrick J O'Brian

Firefighter Paul Clouse is the prime suspect when his wife of six years is brutally murdered on Halloween night. Working to restore the West Baden Springs Hotel as a side job, Clouse soon learns that his friends and the historic hotel are targeted by a murderer disguised as the grim reaper. Investigated persistently by two detectives, he finds few allies at work or home, because an impending divorce from his murdered wife is motive in their eyes.As the body count rises, more evidence points to Clouse, who always seems one step behind the killer. Only a few loyal friends help him seek the truth, knowing all too well the danger that lies ahead. The horrific discovery that the murderer may be someone he already knows sends Clouse on a desperate search to uncover the killer's identity and motive before everyone he knows is targeted.

After capturing an enemy who might provide a cure to the worldwide plague, Dan Metzger believes his luck might be improving. A government agent with a mysterious past is willing to lead Metzger's friends to Jean Pierre Nadeau, the man responsible for causing the apocalypse, but her motives remain a mystery.Forced to leave his family in a community called Maplewood that might turn them over to the military, rather than protect them, Metzger heads west with his loyal friends to pursue Nadeau. While he faces obstacles during his trek, Maplewood is monitored by an adversary who plans a sinister attack.At risk of losing everything he's fought to keep, Metzger draws dangerously close to Nadeau while his last remaining blood relatives are targeted in his absence. He considers Nadeau responsible for the deaths of his parents, among others, but Metzger struggles to avoid being blinded by revenge, because others now count on him. Finding Nadeau could provide him with a cure to the zombie plague, or get them all killed.

After escaping a military base, Dan Metzger and his friends attempt to find safety outside of Virginia. They travel to the Adirondacks where family members and sanctuary might await them, but Metzger worries that the military might pursue him. His thoughts also dwell on his brother, who was left behind during a military assignment, literally in the grasp of the undead. Despite the isolated destination, new foes down the mountain may pose a threat.Another faction of Metzger's original group strikes out on its own, some hoping to find their family members. Along the way, the survivors encounter a bizarre, twisted killer, who claims a portion of the woods for himself, leaving evidence of his heinous murders within an old campsite. Before they realize the extent of the danger, Metzger's allies find themselves in the crosshairs of the killer.Both groups struggle to survive and evade detection, hoping they can discover a way to reunite and ultimately locate the man responsible for the apocalypse.

After leaving his friends to join his family on a military base, Dan Metzger is thrown into a dangerous situation. Assisting the government, he travels back to Buffalo, New York to search for answers about the zombie apocalypse. Remaining devoted to his brother, a lieutenant commander in the Navy, Metzger begins to question the government's motives. Their soldiers search for answers at great peril, while food and supplies grow scarce.His friends fare little better when they travel west, only to confront a military threat, followed by a new group that intends to occupy the same town where they hope to settle. Tensions escalate between the two factions, and blood spills when a member of the group goes missing.While the military puts forth a benevolent front, providing security while taking back more of the country from the undead, Metzger and his friends discover some hard truth. A secret agenda threatens their freedom, and Metzger begins regretting the decision to stay with his family. In a world full of hazards, he can only trust those closest to him.

After learning of a threat against his family, Boston cop Mike Brogan returns to his hometown of Chicago to work for a secretive agency promising to keep his wife and children safe. Using state-of-the-art technology, Brogan monitors activities between the local mafia, a biker gang from New Mexico, and the corrupt police family he left behind years earlier. A war is brewing between the factions, certain to end in bloodshed with no regard for collateral damage.Thrown into illicit activities with former military operatives, Brogan realizes he's out of his element. Unwilling to trust everything the agency's leadership tells him, the cop must remain hidden, and anonymous, to the outside world if he wants to see his family again. Until the threat is eliminated, Brogan cannot quit his new work, but with each new mission he risks being discovered, arrested, or killed.He soon realizes the group harbors bigger plans for him, and as the stakes grow, and good people are killed, Brogan is left with the impossible choice of returning to his family, or assuming a leadership role, to carry out worldwide good behind the scenes.

When the dead begin roaming the Earth, Dan Metzger heads to upstate New York to learn the fate of his parents. Encountering hazards from the undead and living alike, he travels alone until he is rescued by a small group. Knowing his brother is at sea with the Navy, returning to the East Coast, Metzger pushes to reunite what family he has left, bringing his new allies with him. Living day by day, knowing the apocalypse emerged from an intentional act of terror, he discovers a few answers along the way about the reanimation process. His group encounters numerous tricks and traps in their travels, finding trust difficult. Migrating from Buffalo to Virginia, Metzger realizes there is strength in numbers, but each member of his pack harbors a personal agenda. Arriving in Virginia is the one common goal they share, uncertain if everyone will make it, or how long they'll stick together once they reach the safe haven of the Norfolk military base.Metzger remains focused on locating the last of his family, knowing he can't settle anywhere permanently until he puts his mind at ease. The dangers ahead, however, may keep him from realizing his goals.

Several years have passed since Paul Clouse dealt with an enemy who turned his life upside-down. Now in complete control of the resort he once helped save from destruction, Clouse finds the memories too painful, and decides to sell the property. Once again, trouble brews in Orange County, where two famous hotels remain, forcing Clouse to confront enemies new and old alike. His previous brush with the supernatural pales in comparison to the new evil he confronts in his own backyard. Left with only a handful of friends and family from his younger days, he fights to keep them safe while struggling to learn the secrets his adversaries already know. Should he fail to protect the property where everything began, the result could be death and destruction the likes of which the world has never seen.

Paul Clouse believes his worries may finally be over. Though the past two years of his life have been horrific, he hopes things are going to change. His first wife was murdered, his son abducted, and his best friend killed by unknown assailants, but each time he has managed to survive. This Halloween the rules have changed, and the killer seems to stay one step ahead of everyone. Clouse finds himself losing more friends to the killer's grasp, and wonders exactly how he can stop a madman who seems to know more about the West Baden Springs Hotel and his life than anyone else around him. As the body count grows, the legend of Father Ernest returns to haunt Clouse one last time. His only hope is to sort through the past of the hotel and the people around him to discover the killer's identity before it's too late. A mysterious set of diaries left by the hotel's former occupants quickly become his only hope to save himself and everyone left around him.