Dry ice

Stephen White returns to Alan Gregory, the psychologist who first appeared in Privileged Information. Years after that earlier case, Michael McClelland, the cunning and methodical killer from White's debut novel, has been released from the Colorado State Mental Hospital, and his target is Gregory's family.

The threat arrives at a bad moment. Gregory is already unsettled, questioning his career, his marriage and his own mind. McClelland knows things from Gregory's past that Gregory had believed were buried long ago, and some of those secrets are hidden even from his wife. As the deadline closes in, Gregory must outmaneuver his adversary while facing the fears he has avoided for years.

The novel is a psychological suspense story about the experiences that permanently shape a person and the way the past keeps pressing into the present. Readers who already follow the series will get a close look at Gregory's inner life, and newcomers can enjoy it as a standalone thriller.