Baldacci, David

"Melvin Mars awaits his fate on Death Row. He was one of America's most promising football stars until, aged twenty years old, he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his parents just as he was due to begin a very lucrative contract with the NFL. When Amos Decker, newly appointed special agent with the FBI, hears the news that Melvin was saved in the final seconds before his execution because someone has confessed to the killings, he persuades his boss to allow him to carry out an investigation into the Mars murders."--Provided by publisher.

Until Vega Jane's friend Quentin disappears, she believes that life outside of her village is very dangerous. After he disappears, she begins to question all she has been told.

"When his father is charged with murder and refuses to do anything to prove his innocence, Will Robie returns as an outsider to his hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi--where he is met with distrust--to conduct his own investigation."--Provided by publisher.

Vega investigates why Quentin Herms was chased into the dangerous Quag and discovers dangerous secrets about her home village of Wormwood.

Vega Jane and her friend Delph have taken the map that Quentin Harris left them and set out from the town of Wormwood, determined to brave the Quag and find freedom on the other side--but the Quag was designed to keep the town people in, and it is filled with bloodthirsty creatures and sinister magic, and it is not going to let them escape unscathed.

Why would Quentin Herms flee into the Quag? There was nothing in the Quag except certain death. Vega Jane has never left the village of Wormwood. But this isn't unusual--nobody has ever left the village of Wormwood. At least not until Quentin Herms vanishes into the unknown. Vega knows Quentin didn't just leave--he was chased. And he's left behind a very dangerous trail of clues that only she can decode. The Quag is a dark forest filled with terrifying beasts and bloodthirsty Outliers. But just as deadly are the threats that exist whithin the walls of Wormwood. It is a place built on lies, where influential people are willing to kill to keep their secrets. Vega is determined to uncover the truth--but the closer she gets, the more she risks her life.

"It seems at first like a simple, tragic story. Tyler Wingo, a teenage boy, learns the awful news that his father, a soldier, was killed in action in Afghanistan. Then the extraordinary happens: Tyler receives a communication from his father...after his supposed death. Tyler hires Sean and Michelle to solve the mystery surrounding his father. But their investigation quickly leads to deeper, more troubling questions. Could Tyler's father really still be alive? What was his true mission? Could Tyler be the next target? Sean and Michelle soon realize that they've stumbled onto something bigger and more treacherous than anyone could have imagined. And as their hunt for the truth leads them relentlessly to the highest levels of power and to uncovering the most clandestine of secrets, Sean and Michelle are determined to help and protect Tyler -- though they may pay for it with their lives. -- front page.

Vega Jane has never left the village of Wormwood. But this isn't unusual, nobody has ever left the village of Wormwood. At least not until Quentin Herms vanishes into the unknown. Vega knows Quentin didn't just leave, but that he was chased. And he's left behind a very dangerous trail of clues that only she can decode. The Quag is a dark forest filled with terrifying beasts and bloodthirsty Outliers. But just as deadly are the threats that exist within the walls of Wormwood. It is a place built on lies, where influential people are willing to kill to keep their secrets. Vega is determined to uncover the truth. But the closer she gets, the more she risks her life.