Books like Prodigal Blues by Gary A. Braunbeck

In Los Angeles, former mercenary James Stark, known as Sand Man Slim, tracks a dead man, hunts an ancient artifact, and evades both angry old gods and ruthless killers.

Two widowers in upstate New York pursue trout in Dutchman's Creek and uncover a dark, ancient secret tied to the Ashokan Reservoir, forcing them to confront loss and the price of reclaiming what they lost.

When fourteen‑year‑old Marjorie Barrett develops acute schizophrenia, her family’s suburban life spirals into horror. A Catholic priest offers an exorcism while a reality‑TV crew watches the distress unfold.

Muerte y la doncella is a dramatic play by Ariel Dorfman that explores human rights abuses, political persecution, and the struggle of women political prisoners and torture victims in a dictatorial society.

Set in the 1963 Midwest, *Dark Harvest* follows a young boy named the October Boy who stalks his town every Halloween, leading a twisted rite that pits teenage boys against a living legend—raising questions of destiny and survival.

Mystery thriller about a forensic linguist who investigates the kidnapping of a child.

Jennifer Arnold is always getting her identical twin, Maggie, in trouble. Life's been difficult in their household since their pilot father went missing, and things get even worse when Jennifer finds an ancient spellbook and learns to become invisible. Then the girls get a wonderful offer - their Grandmother Arnold takes them on a cruise to the Greek islands and Istanbul. But Grandmother Arnold seems to know a lot more about the world of espionage than an ordinary grandmother ought to. The kids learn that not all the people on the ship are who they seem to be either. What's going on? The holiday cruise quickly turns into a mission to find the girls' father. With each stop, the kids learn new information about his disappearance and the danger he's in.

Four university friends venture into the Arctic Circle’s Scandinavian wilderness seeking escape, only to confront ancient rituals and deadly forces lurking among untouched forest.

Fifteen‑year‑old Coley Sterling hides a painful secret from a past relationship. When a new boyfriend enters her life, the lies she has kept start to surface, forcing her to confront shame, guilt, and the reality of her family’s hidden truths.

"I very much need to be dead." These are the chilling last words left by a man who had everything to live for but took his own life. In the void that remains stands his widow, FBI agent Jane Hawk, surrounded by questions destined to go unanswered unless she does what all the grief and fury inside her demand: Find the truth, no matter what. People of talent and accomplishment, people seemingly happy and sound of mind, have recently been committing suicide in surprising numbers. A disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge. Jane is determined to give up everything to find out why. And if that means going rogue and becoming America's Most Wanted, then so be it. Those arrayed against her are legion, and devoted to protecting something profoundly important-or terrifying-enough to exterminate any and all in their way. But Jane is as clever as these enemies are cold-blooded, as relentless as they are ruthless. And she is driven by a righteous rage they can never comprehend. Because it is born of love.

A woman sold into prostitution and raised by a con man falls in love with a lawman, but their destinies collide when she's kidnapped again.

In 1948 Camden, a young girl is lured from a Woolworth’s by a man claiming to be an FBI agent, setting off two harrowing years of abuse that transform her life and those around her.