Black Valley

On the night of a raging electrical storm, a group of teenage boys gathers to bury one of their own . . . alive. It isn't murder, though, because the "victim" is a willing participant, part of a gang-initiation stunt. But even the best-laid plans can go horrifically wrong. Fast-forward twenty-two years: The events of that stormy night are a distant memory. And the boys involved are now respected men in their hometown the sheriff, the mayor, a congressman, even a Nobel Prizewinning physicist. Yet in spite of his newfound prestige, Dr. Dean Truman is a haunted man, tied to his town by a personal horror even his old friends know nothing about. But when a mysterious drifter arrives, bringing a wave of grisly and bizarre killings with him, Dean's battle with his conscience will give way to a much more desperate fight: for his sanity, for the survival of his friends and neighbors, and for his own life.

<b>Jim Brown</b> is the author of <i>24/7</i>. He is also a broadcast journalist and a three-time winner of the Associated Press Best Newscast Award. As a reporter, Mr. Brown has covered the Atlanta child killings, the Stocking Strangler, Kip Kinkel, and other criminal cases. For ten years he was a news anchor at the local NBC affiliate in Eugene, Oregon. He now lives in Fresno, California.