In the Dark
Two young lovers. A sultry summer night. One brutal, cold-blooded murder. In this stunning, atmospheric thriller, In the Dark, Brian Freeman takes you deep into Detective Jonathan Stride's complicated past.
It's the case that has haunted Stride for thirty years. During the summer after his junior year of high school, he fell in love with beautiful Cindy Starr, the girl who would become his wife. But on the Fourth of July, the same night that Jonny and Cindy cemented their love, Cindy's older sister Laura was savagely murdered. The police suspected a vagrant of committing the crime, but no one was ever arrested, and the case was closed.
Now, Laura's best friend Tish Verdure has returned to Duluth to write a book about Laura's death. Tish knows secrets that a lot of people would like to keep hidden, including information about Cindy that leave Stride questioning his entire past. When a young girl is found drowned in the St. Louis River and a witness to the original murder attempts suicide, Stride realizes that the violence of the past is spilling over into the present.
As he unearths the explosive events that led to Laura's murder, Stride discovers that the ripples of her death changed everyone's lives, including his own. Can Stride put to rest the ghosts of his past, or will they devour him whole?
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Brian Freeman
Brian Freeman is a New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author of more than two dozen psychological thrillers, including the Jonathan Stride series and multiple popular stand-alone novels. His books have been sold in 46 countries and 23 languages. He is widely acclaimed for his "you are there" settings and his complex, engaging characters and twist-filled plots. Brian was also selected as the official author to continue Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne series.
His stand-alone thriller SPILLED BLOOD won the award for Best Hardcover Novel in the annual Thriller Awards given out by the International Thriller Writers organization, and his fifth novel THE BURYING PLACE was a finalist for the same award. His novel THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 2021. Kirkus Reviews named his novels THE BOURNE EVOLUTION and INFINITE among its 12 best mysteries and thrillers in back-to-back years.
The Jonathan Stride Series
The Jonathan Stride Series consists of eleven primary books, and includes two additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of two more books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.


