Devils Den

Justin McKnight Series, #1

Twenty years have passed since a young man disappeared inside Devils Den never to be seen again. During this time the haunted cave has lain dormant, but the legend of its evil has not died. In fact, what lies within has awakened and prowls Cider Knoll one last time, seeking to offer a final blood sacrifice in order to gain immortality. Such a sacrifice must be pure and untainted, but finding an uncontaminated soul in a corrupt world is nearly impossible.

Horror spreads through rural Cider Knoll when another teenager, Justin McKnight, vanishes inside Devils Den. As the search and rescue begins, Sheriff Hopkins is baffled on how to continue searching for the boy when the only clues end at a mysterious wall inside the cave. When search efforts are about to be abandoned, an unexpected man shows up with an age-worn book that has disturbing revelations about what had actually occurred twenty years prior. And according to the predictions inside the book, they have little time to find Justin before he becomes the next victim.

"Leonard D. Hilley II writes with a dark veracity, giving real life to a world slightly askew. There's always a sense that something is lurking in the shadows, just beyond the 'normal' world."--Paul Counelis, writer for Rue Morgue