Lieutenant Jonathan Stride knows his partner Maggie Bei is in trouble when she reports a deadly crime on a bitter winter night. She’s obviously hiding a terrible secret, and her silence only feeds suspicion. Maggie isn’t the only one keeping secrets in Duluth. A seductive young woman has disappeared, leaving behind a stash of lurid fantasies and a cryptic message: I know who it is. Following a twisted trail, Stride uncovers a sordid web of violence and voyeurism that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden. Stride isn’t alone. His lover Serena Dial – a homicide cop turned private investigator – is chasing a blackmailer who knows all the city’s dirty secrets. Even Maggie’s. But as Stride and Serena hunt for a killer, a predator with a vicious past is hunting them – with a terrifying plan for revenge. Now every step they take to expose the truth brings them closer to a showdown amid the howling winds of a winter storm. Where survival in the blinding snow is measured in seconds. Where crimes can be buried forever.
Brian Freeman is an international bestselling author of psychological suspense novels featuring detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial. His books have been sold in 46 countries and 19 languages and have appeared as Main Selections in the Literary Guild and the Book of the Month Club. His settings in the bleak, frozen landscape of Duluth, Minnesota, and his deeply complex characters, have drawn comparisons to Swedish noir.
Freeman's fifth novel THE BURYING PLACE was a finalist for Best Novel of 2010 in the International Thriller Writer Awards. He was recognized along with fellow nominees Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Mo Hayder, and John Sandford. His debut thriller, IMMORAL, won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel and was a nominee for the Edgar, Dagger, Anthony, and Barry Awards. It was named International Book of the Month by book clubs around the world, a distinction shared with authors such as Harlan Coben and Karin Slaughter. His novel STRIPPED was named one of the top 10 mysteries of 2006 by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
His third novel STALKED was released in February 2008. "Freeman just keeps outdoing himself with each book," said the starred review in Library Journal. Publishers Weekly similarly gave a starred review to Freeman's fourth novel, IN THE DARK (2009), calling it his best book yet, "harrowing and heartrending."
His fifth novel THE BURYING PLACE arrived in bookstores in 2010. Upon its release in the UK, London's Daily Mail called Freeman the discovery of the year in crime fiction and said of the book: "Fleshed-out characters, high tension and terrifying twists put Freeman up there with Harlan Coben in the psychological crime stratosphere."
His newest novel and first stand-alone is THE BONE HOUSE, released in 2011.
In addition to his suspense series, Freeman is also the co-author of THE AGENCY (2009) under the pen name "Ally O'Brien." THE AGENCY is Janet Evanovich meets The Devil Wears Prada, a light and sexy satire of the publishing industry that received favorable reviews in People Magazine and Entertainment Weekly, among others.
Freeman was born in Chicago and grew up in San Mateo, California, before moving to Minnesota. You can write to him at brian@bfreemanbooks.com and find him on Facebook by clicking the link at his web site (www.bfreemanbooks.com).
