In the Ozarks, the river keeps its dead—and its secrets bite back.
When a kayak tour shoots into a cave beneath Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest, the lead guide strikes a chain stretched across the darkness. In the churn that follows, a bloated body surfaces—weighted, toothless, and staged like a warning. FBI analyst Wren Cade is flown in with partner Eli Barron and trainee-agent Tiffany Brooks, only to find the caves doubling as cartel arteries and a backwoods revival movement preaching from boats at dusk.
A century-old pamphlet by a fire-and-brimstone preacher—Practicing Presence—starts showing up at scenes. Each chapter foreshadows a fresh teeth pulled, weights tied, mouths stopped. Is a believer killing by doctrine, or is a golden-toothed enforcer using the myth to hide executions in plain sight?
As Wren traces a lattice of underground rivers, meth labs, and borrowed faith, she’s pulled between a missing-person crisis in her own family and a town ready to call murder a miracle.
Chain in the Dark is Book 7 in the Wren Cade series—propulsive, atmospheric, and emotionally sharp.
Having worked on projects with New York Times Bestsellers and USA Today bestsellers, Georgia Wagner recently hit #1 bestseller with her newest series. Location and character are two big factors for Georgia, and getting those right allows the story to flow seamlessly onto the page. And flow it does, because Georgia is so prolific a new term is required to describe the rate at which nerve-tingling stories find their way into print.
When not found attached to a laptop, Georgia likes spending time in local arboretums, among the trees and ponds. An avid cultivator of orchids, begonias, and all things floral, Georgia also has a strong penchant for art, paintings, and sculptures. A many-decades-long passion for mystery novels and years of chess tournament experience makes Georgia the perfect person to pen the Artemis Blythe series. That's where it all started, but the drive to craft thrilling mystery tales soon demanded new characters in new locations.
4 stars I am thoroughly enjoying this series. The cases are not repetitive. There is character development. I’m enjoying seeing Wren become less machine and more human. Her growing regard and depth of feeling for Eli. The friendship with Tiffany. If there is another book, and there needs to be one, I want the Lark issue finalized. This FBI hunt centered on good intentions multiplying g into death and depravity. It was tense and fast paced, as all the Wren series books. Well done.
Another brilliant book from the great Georgia Wagner. Brilliant, complex characters, drama and well written plots. Is this the end for wren, I hope not