Start here
Eight novels, twenty-two editions, two languages. Not every book is for every reader, and that is on purpose. Here is what each one is, who it is for, and where I would tell you to begin.
There is no wrong place to start. Nothing here has to be read in order except the two series, and each of those currently has one book in it. But some doors open easier than others, depending on what you came for.
If you want the centre of the library
The Boy Within
A father watches his six-year-old do something ordinary and sees the boy he used to be, before he learned to put that away. Three generations of men handing down a way of being, and none of them ever said it out loud.
Who it is for: anyone who has been steady for other people for a long time. Fathers. Veterans and first responders who learned early to keep things inside. Anyone who suspects they left a version of themselves somewhere back there.
If you want a thriller
The Shepherd's Lie
A megachurch founder dies mid-sermon in front of a full house. Micah Cross, a former Army chaplain, recognises what happens next, because he has been on the other side of it: an institution deciding what the truth will be. Years earlier he filed the report that turned Khost into something cleaner.
Who it is for: readers who want suspense with a conscience underneath it. Faith, loyalty, institutional power, and what it costs to carry somebody else's lie.
If you want a series to settle into
Shadows Over Paradise
Ethan Grey left special operations and built a life out of order. Boots squared against the wall, the same walk at the same hour, on an island where nobody asks what a man used to do. Then a body washes up, and the discipline that kept him whole is what pulls him back in.
Who it is for: readers who like a world they can live in for a while. Also the best entry point if you want Caribbean noir rather than American thriller.
If you want the quietest way in
Finding Home
James leaves the service and finds that nothing fits. Not the jobs, not the city, not the version of himself that came back. What follows runs through India, Kenya, Florence and a Caribbean island, looking for something that outlasts the uniform.
Who it is for: anyone in a transition they did not choose. It is the least violent book on the shelf and the most direct about what it is asking.
If you want obsession rather than danger
Quiet Heat
Angel Martinez rebuilt her life brick by brick after a man who confused possession with
love. Then someone sees her clearly, and the man from before starts watching again.
La Mujer del Balcón
A man arrives in Puerto Plata after a divorce wanting anonymity, and becomes fixed on the
woman on the opposite balcony. Every version of her story contradicts the last.
If you want the hardest ones
Dead Ground
Caleb Rourke buried his weapons and his name on a remote island. Then an old teammate
arrives with a boy to get out, and a man who turns children into weapons.
Angel on Fire
Trauma counsellor Angel Devereaux walks out of a fire the city calls a miracle. Then come
the visions, and a pastor certain she is a prophecy about cleansing a city by flame.
If you read Spanish
Six Spanish editions, and they are full translations rather than summaries. Sombras Sobre el Paraíso, Calor Silencioso, Ángel en Llamas, Encontrar casa, Tierra Muerta, and the Spanish edition of La Mujer del Balcón.
If you are choosing a gift for a Spanish reader, La Mujer del Balcón is the one set here, on this coast, and it lands differently for anyone who knows Puerto Plata.
The short answer
Start with The Boy Within if you want to know what I am really writing about. Start with The Shepherd's Lie if you want to be pulled through it. Start with Shadows Over Paradise if you want book two waiting for you afterwards.
They are all the same hand, working the same ground: what a person is fighting when nobody is watching, and what it takes to come back from it.