Advance Praise for Maelstrom:
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“Yowza!! Incredibly addictive and gut wrenching. So freakin’ good. 5-stars. When you check the clock and it’s 3:00 AM but you keep reading, you know it’s D.J. Schuette.”
-Timya Owen, President, Sisters in Crime, Twin Cities Chapter
“What an exciting book! The search for Addie’s brother kept me on edge as she dug deeper into the dregs of society. The pacing and the plot kept me turning the pages and my heart pumping. Great read!
-Barbara Schlichting, author of First Ladies mystery series
“Buckle in for a rollercoaster ride of action and suspense.”
-Judy Kerr, author of “The Ruby Slippers” in Silence of the Loon
Welcome to the second book in the Chaos series! Maelstrom primarily follows three characters whose personal stories eventually converge at one devastating moment in time, followed by an unimaginable culmination. FBI New-Agent-in Training Addison Lange, first introduced in Chaos, uses her extensive computer knowledge and hacking skills to search for answers to a very personal tragedy: the disappearance of her brother, Tommy, from their front yard in Oceanside, California, ten years earlier. But those answers aren’t easy to come by, hidden as they are beneath the dark underbelly of a world no one emerges from unscathed. Meanwhile, Special Agent Nick Keegan, the hero of the first book, is suffering the devastating aftermath of his encounter with psychopath and prolific serial killer, Aleksandr Zorin. After being arrested for a murder he has no memory of committing, Nick is forced to confront his demons and must decide whether anything remains inside of him worth salvaging. The third thread takes us back in time to bear witness to Connie Keegan’s horrifying captivity at the hands of her husband’s arch nemesis a few months earlier. Readers already familiar with that story will finally have the answers they’ve been waiting for.
And never fear, Aleksandr Zorin still lurks in the background of Maelstrom, terrorizing and unmaking lives with all the skill, fervor, and exuberance that you’ve come to expect.
Get ready to enter the Maelstrom.
And speaking of, be sure to discover new content on Zorin’s blog at www.enterthemaelstrom.com!
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Praise for Chaos:
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"Aleksandr Zorin is, hands down, the new millennium's Hannibal Lecter. I loved this book."
-Jessie Chandler, author of the Shay O'Hanlon caper series
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"Author DJ Schuette adroitly balances the nitty-gritty of modern crime investigation – a multi-state, multi-agency hunt for a previously unsuspected unsub – with a non-stop barrelling narrative. The procedural attention to detail feels realistic: the gruesome crime scenes meticulously depicted. The action pauses only to deliver emotional moments of genuine intensity – then a rapid change of direction shatters the reader’s preconceptions and we’re (happily) dragged into the depths of criminal depravity."
-Rowena Hoseason, Murder Mayhem & More
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"I don't read a lot of police procedurals, but when I do I like them to keep me glued to the book, worried about what happens next. Chaos didn't disappoint."
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"This is a difficult story to review without giving away the direction the plot takes to its terrific conclusion. I can only say it is one of the best stories I’ve read..." -Gene Roberts, Vigilant Reader Book Reviews
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Welcome to Chaos, the first in a series of FBI-themed thrillers! If you enjoy books by Jeffrey Deaver, Chelsea Cain, and Cody McFadyen or are fans of television programs like Hannibal, Profiler, The Following, and Criminal Minds, then I think Chaos will be right up your dark and twisted alley.
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Chaos introduces us to a number of characters, namely Nicholas Keegan and Aleksandr Zorin, around whom the series revolves. Those who survive will almost certainly make appearances in the forthcoming books. The series itself is a bit unusual in that the primary characters from one book may not necessarily be the main characters in the next, though they'll all undoubtedly play a role (again, provided they survive--it's a dangerous world they live in, and I can therefore make no guarantees).
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Nick Keegan wasn't quite twelve when his father was killed in the line of duty during what should have been a routine traffic stop. Shaped by that tragedy and the support and tutelage of his father's colleagues at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, Nick is now a rising star and forensic criminologist with the FBI's Violent Crime Squad in Minnesota. Few can navigate the depths of madness quite as well as he, a trait that is probably more curse than blessing. He puts his unique skills to work profiling some of the most dangerous criminals society has ever known.
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Shaped by his own equally tragic upbringing, Aleksandr Zorin was driven down a much darker path. A sadistic psychopath incapable of compassion, he experiences pleasure only through the suffering of others--something he has become uncommonly skilled at meting out. For nearly fifteen years, Zorin has managed to remain invisible, cloaked by the flaws of a broken criminal justice system. No one knows he exists. But that's all about to change. Soon enough, the world will behold him in awe and terror.
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As part of a task force of agents assigned to overhaul the Bureau's failing ViCAP database, Nick helps design an ingenious solution to address its shortcomings. Little does he know that doing so will uncover one of the most prolific and brutal serial killers in U.S. history.
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