A quiet Southern college town.
A disturbing pattern of student deaths.
A professor behaving strangely.
And a man haunted by night visions he cannot explain.
When history professor Jack Turner begins experiencing vivid nighttime encounters that feel unsettlingly real, his carefully ordered life starts to fracture. The episodes threaten his sanity—and his growing romance with the captivating teaching assistant Rachel Cook. As Jack struggles to understand what’s happening to him, a far darker truth begins to surface.
Meanwhile, local detective Joe Boyd is investigating a series of bizarre student deaths that defy explanation. As the case deepens, Boyd and Jack find themselves drawn into the same chilling web—one woven from secrets, lies, and a dangerous conspiracy that blurs the boundaries between memory, guilt, and madness.
When Night Comes is a gripping psychological suspense novel where reality is unreliable, the past refuses to stay buried, and nothing—and no one—is quite what it seems.
Bestselling author Dan Walsh delivers another unforgettable, character-driven thriller. Fans of The Discovery and What Follows After will be instantly hooked by When Night Comes.
How the Book Begins
(Used by permission)
CHAPTER 1
Dead bodies have a way of changing everything.
Sergeant Joe Boyd drove his unmarked car down Chambers Road toward a reported homicide. The officer on scene had sounded jittery over the radio—rattled, bordering on hysterical—talking about throwing up and claiming he’d never seen anything like it.
Have a little dignity, Boyd thought.
It was a Saturday morning. Of course it was. The one day of the week he usually got to sleep in. After sixteen years on the force, he wasn’t even sure whether he still wanted to deal with another murder.
Just two months earlier, Boyd had been a homicide detective in Zone Five—the relentless, claustrophobic heart of the Pittsburgh PD. He’d worked there since graduating the academy and never imagined he’d trade it for small-town Culpepper, Georgia.
But he hadn’t really had a choice.
It’s them or me, Kate had said. Take your pick.
Kate had fallen in love with Culpepper the first time they drove through—a place that still felt untouched, where the bad guys hadn’t quite arrived yet. Boyd had to admit, she’d been right. He was home for dinner most nights now. He made it to his son’s Little League games. Read bedtime stories to his daughter. Even found himself in church most Sundays.
And now this.
