The #1 New York Times bestselling author and true crime master Ann Rule presents her fifteenth volume of the acclaimed Crime Files series focusing on disturbing stories of people in danger, sometimes from strangers and sometimes from the people they know and love.

Walking home on a dark night, you hear footsteps coming up behind you. As they get closer, your heart pounds harder. Is it a dangerous stranger or someone you know and trust? The answer is as simple as turning around, but don’t look behind you…run.

With her signature in-depth research and compelling writing, Ann Rule chronicles fateful encounters with the secret predators hiding in plain sight. First in line is a stunning case that spanned thirty years and took one determined detective to four states—ending, finally, in Alaska—where he unraveled not one but two murders. A second case appears to begin and end with the hunt for the Green River Killer, focusing on a Washington State man who was once cleared as a suspect in that deadly chain of homicides. In another true story, a petite woman went to a tavern, looking only for conversation and fun. Instead, she met violent death in the form of a seven-foot tall man who had seemed shy and harmless.

You’ll feel a chill as you uncover these and numerous other cases of unfortunate victims who made one tragic mistake: trusting the wrong person—even someone they thought they knew.