Haunted by guilt and shame, Michael Bennett is living with a father's worst nightmare. Reeling from a crisis that would destroy lesser families, the Bennetts escape New York for a much-needed vacation. But it turns out the brochures don't tell the full story; the seemingly perfect community has a deadly vice.
When local cops uncover a grisly crime scene buried deep in the woods, they consult the vacationing Bennett, who jumps at the chance to atone for his own sins. But far from the city streets he knows so well, no one will talk to the big-city detective, and the bodies keep piling up.
A young and forgotten girl is the closest thing Bennett has to a partner in his frantic hunt for the ghostlike perpetrator behind the violence. Will Bennett and his unlikely ally unmask the culprit before anyone else winds up haunted?
The series
In the shadows of New York City’s chaos, where high-profile crimes collide with the everyday grit of street life, one man stands at the intersection of both worlds—with ten kids at home and a badge on his chest. The Michael Bennett series thrives on contradiction: it’s part gritty police procedural, part intimate family drama, and all heart-pounding tension.
Read full series description
This isn’t your typical crime thriller. The pulse of the city runs through every scene, from hostage crises in glittering Manhattan penthouses to quiet, tense dinners around a worn kitchen table in the Bronx. Bennett is a detective who carries more than a gun—he carries the weight of being a single father, a protector, and a man constantly pulled between duty and devotion.
What makes the series stand apart is its emotional core. The cases may be cinematic in scale—terror plots, serial killers, corruption that cuts deep—but the real suspense is personal. With his sprawling, unconventional family always in the background, every choice Bennett makes reverberates beyond the crime scene. That balance between explosive action and tender vulnerability gives the story its punch—and its staying power.
Taut, fast-paced, and unflinching, the writing delivers thriller lovers everything they crave: layered mysteries, moral ambiguity, and a protagonist whose humanity is as compelling as his detective instincts. The Michael Bennett novels don’t just tell stories of justice—they ask what justice costs, and who pays for it in the end.
For those drawn to character-driven crime fiction set against the relentless thrum of urban life, this series offers both the adrenaline of high-stakes investigation and the quiet, stubborn hope of a man trying to hold his world together, one case—and one dinner table conversation—at a time.
#1 · 2007Step on a Crack 
#2 · 2009Run for Your Life 
#3 · 2010Worst Case 
#4 · 2011Tick Tock 
#5 · 2012I, Michael Bennett 
#6 · 2013Gone 
#7 · 2014Burn 
#8 · 2015Alert 
#9 · 2016Bullseye 
#10 · 2017Haunted 
#11 · 2018Ambush 
#12 · 2020Blindside 
#13 · 2021The Russian 
#14 · 2022Shattered 
#15 · 2023Obsessed 
#16 · 2024Crosshairs 
#17 · 2025Paranoia 
#18 · 2026Delusional 
#19 · 2027Michael Bennett Book 19 Be the first reviewer
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