See all titles by Andrew Gross.

In the vein of THE BLUE ZONE, his haunting debut thriller, Gross delivers a rich, yet totally gripping tale of a family haunted by its secret past.

Jay Erlich is a successful and respected surgeon and dad enjoying a romantic twentieth wedding anniversary on the beach when a call comes with the shocking news that his twenty-one year old nephew has been found dead at the bottom of a famed landmark cliff, ruled a suicide. Years before, Jay’s older brother Charlie, a wayward child of the Sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the sway of a charismatic, but deeply disturbed cult figure. A horrible tragedy ensued, lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and raised a family, living a quiet, secluded life in a Central California beach town, under the radar. But the demons from his past have never completely disappeared.

When Jay, to help his grieving brother, heads out West, he begins to suspect that his nephew’s suicide may not have been what it appeared at all. At first against his will, and then determinedly, Jay delves into his brother’s dark past—a labyrinth of secrets, terror, and lies buried in the Sixties, with sons fighting against fathers, broken music dreams, mental illness, and a thirty year old vendetta from an infamous killer as real today was it was back then. With eyes wide open, Jay puts his “happy” life at risk to uncover the truth, a quest that goes beyond the edge of madness and a family brought to the edge. . . straight into the depths of evil.

Drawing on two, real-life experiences from his own life, the tragic suicide of his young nephew and an encounter years ago with a cult-killer who’s name has become synonymous with terror, Gross has crafted a richly personal, yet utterly terrifying tale of two brothers, one successful, the other wayward, trying to bridge the gap that has torn them apart.