December 24, 2007
In this first in a trilogy Ross is developing on ex–Special Forces men reacclimating to civilian life, ex-SEAL Zach Tremayne returns to his South Carolina small town to try to forget the horrors of the Iraq War. Sabrina Swann has returned to recover from a terrorist attack on the Italian hotel where she was waitressing. As the fragile pair rekindle their attraction from youth, a serial killer stalks the serene community, torturing and murdering women and closing in on Sabrina. While Ross has a good handle on the intricacies of smalltown life, the shared PTSD of her protagonists doesn’t make for the easiest of romances, and Tremayne’s trauma disappears when it is no longer convenient to the story.