Book excerpt: This tale of grisly murders in a small town delivers a plot that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. When Rob Smith, a detective from the San Jose, arrives home for a visit to the small town of Stove Creek, he discovers the town and his family have been caught in the clutches of a religious cult, the founder of which seems to have his hands into everything. When a dismembered female, last seen at the cult compound, turns up, Rob is recruited by the local sheriff to assist in the investigation.