UNSUB Books In Order

Publication Order of UNSUB Books

“UNSUB” is a series of investigative mystery novels by Meg Gardiner, a mystery and thriller novelist. Meg was born in Oklahoma in 1957 though she spent much of her childhood in Santa Barbara California. She went to Dos Pueblos High School and became a writer for the school paper during her time there. She then attended Stanford for an economics degree and it was during this time that she started penning short stories in her spare time. She then went to Stanford Law School and practiced law in Los Angeles for a time before she decided to move back home. At California’s Santa Barbara University, she became a professor of legal research even as she wrote on the side.

During the early 1990s, she got married and since her husband had found a new job, she moved with him to the UK. With so much time on her hands since she no longer had a day job, she began writing thrillers since she was not interested in taking the qualifications that would have made her a barrister. “China Lake,” her debut novel, the first of the “Evan Delaney” series of novels was first published in 2002. “UNSUB” the first novel of the “UNSUB” series of novels was first published in 2017. The novel is set to be made into a CBS TV series. She used to live in Surrey, a small town near London before the family moved back to the US and made their home in Austin Texas.

“UNSUB” is a series of novels inspired by the vain attempt by Mack Hendrix to nab a serial killer named the Prophet. He was so cunning that the veteran police officer was almost driven to insanity. Two decades later, Caitlin Hendrix, his daughter, is dealing with a case that seems so much like that of the Prophet. Could the man be back and will she be able to catch him before he gets to her first. “Into the Black Nowhere,” the second of the “UNSUB” series sees Caitlin Hendrix working with the feds as a rookie agent in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Suddenly, they are getting reports of women going missing in a small town in Texas known as Solace. Caitlin needs to enter his mind to learn how he works before he picks up another victim. “In The Dark Corners of the Night” the third novel of the series inspired by Ted Bundy, Caitlin Hendrix the FBI profiler is still looking for her serial killer. He invades homes all over Los Angeles killing fathers and mothers right in their beds.

In “UNSUB” the first novel of the series; Caitlin Hendrix has been working in the narcotics department of the FBI when the Prophet makes a comeback. He was a killer that loomed large in her childhood nightmares and is now classified as an unknown subject otherwise known as UNSUB in federal lingo. During the late 1990s, he had been a terror in the Bay Area and working on the case had nearly broken Hendrix’s father who was the lead investigator on it. He had cryptic mind games and little cryptic messages he left behind that only drove Detective Mack Hendrix mad. He had failed to crack the case that included several ritual murders of nearly a dozen seemingly unrelated victims. His trademark MO was etching the sign of Mercury into their flesh. Two decades later Caitlin, his daughter, is the lead in a case in which two bodies with Mercury signs had been found dumped in a manner eerily reminiscent of the Prophet’s work. Caitlin had never forgotten how his father’s career had broken down from the stress of the Prophet case. The man is now back and is threatening not only to take her out, but to kill with impunity. Determined to stop the carnage and break the code in his messages, she does not heed the warnings from her father and with each kill gets closer to the homicidal maniac.
“Into the Black” the second novel of the series is set in Solace, a small town in Texas where women have been going missing every Saturday night. One was taken out of her car when she stopped at a stoplight; another went missing at the movies, while one went to check on her baby in the next room and never returned. Caitlin Hendrix is a rookie FBI agent that was just posted to the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. She believes the disappearances in Austin are the work of a serial killer. Working with the serial crime unit of the FBI, they find the body of the first victim out in the forest. She is wearing a white nightgown full of bloodstains while another victim found deeper in the woods is wearing a white night dress. All around the bodies are Polaroid photographs that have been carefully stuck into the ground in a manner resembling headstones. Every photo is the picture of a woman with her wrists slashed as if she committed suicide, wearing white underwear and posed like Snow White. To track the killer, Caitlin will have to understand how he thinks. Teaming up with an FBI profiler who is a legend in the field, she searches for the point where action and character intersect. The man is projecting a meticulousness and confident character and she believes he makes his victims think he is harmless before he overpowers them. In his twisted fantasy, he believes they are nothing but dolls to control, possess and then destroy.

“The Dark Corners of the Night” the third of the series is the story of a serial killer known as the “Midnight Man.” He appears as an apparition made of fear and shadows. He usually targets parents in the house but leaves the children untouched. The children are thus made witnesses to an unspeakable terror. Homes in Los Angeles live in terror and dread of the man even as he escalates his attacks. Caitlin Hendrix has not yet fully recovered from a bombing six months past in which her best friend very nearly lost her life. But instead of pouting at home she decides to got to LA to hunt a serial killer which is the thing she does best. Her work keeps her going but the UNSUB she is dealing with has something curious about him. It is not long before she realizes that the case will be a test of her dedication and skills since within his heart is a dark secret not so dissimilar to her own past. She cannot hesitate and must do what needs to be done if called upon to.