Part of Alex McKnight, book 1
First published 2000
Alex McKnight carries a bullet near his heart and the weight of his partner's murder. The former Detroit police officer has retreated to a cabin in Paradise, Michigan, trying to forget the violence that nearly killed him. The shooter sits in prison, convicted years ago. McKnight believes the nightmare has ended. Then bodies start appearing in Paradise. The killer uses the exact same methods as the man who murdered McKnight's partner. Someone knows details that were never made public. McKnight cannot explain how another person learned the intimate specifics of those old crimes. The small town offers no refuge from the past. McKnight must determine whether the imprisoned killer had an accomplice or if something more disturbing explains the identical murders. The investigation forces him back into the world he abandoned. Paradise becomes anything but peaceful as McKnight struggles to separate truth from lies. The frozen Michigan landscape mirrors his search for answers in a case that refuses to stay buried.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Detroit, Michigan, Paradise
Period: 20th-century
320 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Minotaur Books
Content warnings: death, murder, violence