The Truth We Bury

Ten years ago, Detective Phillip Ramsey made a promise to himself: he would find the person responsible for one of the most horrific crimes Portland had ever seen. He failed. Marie had been the only survivor when her husband, young son, and their dog were brutally murdered inside their home. There were no fingerprints. No reliable physical evidence. No usable recording. The killer seemed to have appeared from nowhere—and disappeared just as easily. Marie survived only because her husband locked her inside a newly constructed safe room before he went to confront the intruder.

For ten years, the case has remained unsolved. Phillip never let it go.

Even when the department moved on, he continued investigating in secret, following fragments of evidence that led nowhere and questions that refused to die. He believed that somewhere beneath the lies was an answer.

Then, ten years later, the killer returns. Marie is murdered in almost exactly the same horrifying manner, and her sister Lana narrowly escapes becoming another victim. But this time there is a message left behind: NO ONE ESCAPES... NO ONE. Phillip soon discovers that the case is far larger than a single murderer.

Corrupt detectives are willing to die rather than reveal who they serve. Government agents operate outside the law. Secret organizations manipulate police departments and governments from the shadows. A mysterious cult calling itself the Soldiers of Samael appears to have influence far beyond anything Phillip imagined. And somewhere in the darkness, someone—or several someones—is hunting the people responsible for unspeakable crimes.

Some call them murderers. Some believe they are monsters. Others believe they are the only people willing to do what must be done. Phillip doesn't know what to believe. His investigation leads him to Vitneskja, a teenage information broker with extraordinary instincts and secrets of her own; Alexi, a dangerous but strangely loyal connection to Portland's criminal underworld; and Arel, a mysterious man who seems to know far more about Phillip than he should.

Arel is impossible to understand. He can be charming one moment and terrifying the next. He jokes in the face of death, walks into situations no sane person would approach, and seems to possess knowledge and abilities that defy explanation. He claims to be helping Phillip, but the question remains: Why?

As Phillip digs deeper, the line between good and evil begins to disappear. His partner is no longer who Phillip believed him to be. His family may have survived the tragedy he thought killed them. People he trusted may have been working against him for years. Friends know the identities of the mysterious killers and refuse to tell him.

The deeper Phillip goes, the more dangerous the truth becomes. Because some secrets are buried to protect the innocent. Others are buried because the truth is too terrible to survive in the light. And some truths...bury themselves.

As murderers, cultists, corrupt officials, secret organizations, and mysterious avengers converge, Phillip must decide how far he is willing to go to uncover the truth—and how many lines he is willing to cross when the people he loves are threatened. Because the closer he gets to the answers, the more he realizes that this was never simply a case about who killed Marie and her family.

The Truth We Bury. Some mysteries are solved. Some are survived. And some should have stayed buried.