In his previous novels of suspense, Jonathan Nasaw gave readers a charming and unlikely hero against the forces of evil in former FBI agent E. L. Pender. Now, in The Boys from Santa Cruz, Pender faces his most terrifying foe to date.

When troubled teen Luke Sweet is left orphaned and homeless, the court ships him off to a treatment program for juvenile delinquents in Humboldt County. Little Luke has a twisted past, though, and when several members of the group turn up dead, he quickly becomes the number one suspect. Agent Pender must track him down before anyone else gets hurt. But when clues about another psycho-killer who goes by the name Asmador surface, the case becomes much more dangerous -- and deranged -- than anyone thought possible.

Like James Patterson and John Connolly, Jonathan Nasaw has proven time and again that he has an uncanny, almost eerie, knack for getting inside the labyrinthine and horrifying minds of the most deranged serial killers. With his lust for terror and a frightening talent for getting deep under his readers' skins, Nasaw promises to deliver more gripping action and unimaginably gruesome detail as he introduces readers to The Boys from Santa Cruz.

Genre: Mystery