Journalist Claire Walker, disgraced by accusations of plagiarism, has resorted to ghost writing for other journalists to pay the bills. Bitter and jaded, he spends his days with Heather, an addict who needs him a hell of a lot more than he needs her. But when he receives a call from prosecutor Oliver Greene, who remembers Walker from a piece the writer did on an arsonist Greene put away, his life is about to change—and not necessarily for the better. Probing the instinctual fears embedded in us from birth, Vincent Nicholas Perales’s debut eschews the cheap scares, violence, and gore of today’s tales and goes for the jugular in startling fashion. Greene wants to hire Walker because of his past association with toy baron Gordy Renton, whose son Darius was set to go on trial for the murder of his fiancée before he disappeared. Still with an ax to grind against Gordy, Walker jumps at the chance to bring the rich man tumbling down. But things aren’t always as they seem, and Gordy’s tale of woe—and Darius’ inexplicable disappearance while working on a clandestine research project that may have killed his uncle Joe—put the hook in Walker. He quickly finds out the project revolved around the piecing together of disturbing tales set all around the world. Walker soon finds himself on a hunt where nothing is as it seems as his life begins to disintegrate around him. Desperate and looking to avoid the same fate as countless others, Walker is forced to dive deeper into the void with the help of an unexpected ally. Only then will he uncover a dark truth about the world itself, what it means to be human, and the motivations behind the Pale Strangers at the heart of everything. A terrifying tale that is as mind-bending as it is riveting, Perales brings a joyous spirit to dread not seen in ages. A throwback to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Chambers, The Blood Knows will have you sleeping with the lights on. Read Less