In the lawless shadows of the Louisiana bayou, blood is thicker than swamp water—and someone is spilling it by the gallon.

When former sniper Deacon McCray reaches out to his old battle buddy, Jonathan knows immediately that it isn’t a social call. Down in the murky depths of the Louisiana swamp, Deacon’s father has barely survived a boat bombing. It’s the opening shot in a brutal war against the McCrays, a powerful local family that commands a private militia and dominates the bayou.

Dropping into a treacherous, Spanish-moss-draped world of gator hunters and generations-old blood feuds, Jonathan finds himself caught in a lethal game of cat-and-mouse. Someone is systematically hunting the McCray family down. But as the body count rises, a terrifying truth emerges from the swamp gas: this isn't just a backwoods turf war. A serial killer is stalking the wetlands.

To make matters worse, the mission drags Tessa Galloway back into Jonathan’s crosshairs. She’s the fiery ghost from his past, a woman whose sudden reappearance threatens to shatter his focus exactly when he needs it most.

Surrounded by invisible enemies, a ruthless killer, and an old flame, Jonathan must navigate the deadliest waters of the Deep South. He survived the war, but to survive the bayou, he’ll have to become as cold-blooded as the creatures lurking beneath the surface.