Shadows At Garner Lake

If you think Hannibal Lecter was evil, wait until you meet Luke Downing. A leading character in Shadows at Garner Lake, Downing is so evil that he makes Lecter look like an altar boy. As a child, he exhibits all three symptoms of the cold-blooded killer he would become. He plays with fire, he tortures animals, and he wets his bed. What's more, he creates an imaginary friend who remains with him throughout his life. As an adult, Downing meets a runaway girl, dominates her, and offers to set her free if she'll help him blackmail two fishermen who visit Garner Lake each year. Convinced that Downing isn't going to keep his word, the girl agrees to his plan but double crosses him in a shocking way that eventually leads to his downfall. When the fishermen return to the lake with their wives after the girl sabotages Downing's plan, he makes them his prisoner in a cabin where he plans to humiliate and torture them before he kills them. But when Sheriff Jeff Parker and his girlfriend Molly Hutchison learn of Downing's intentions, they thwart his plans in an action-packed scene that marks the conslusion to an unforgettable novel.