Where evil lurks: the man in plaid

Investigative journalist Mara Klein built her reputation exposing the patterns behind the world's darkest disasters — until her blog, "Where Evil Lurks," uncovers a pattern that starts hunting her back.

Every tragedy has the same witness: a man in red plaid. Survivors across the globe — miners, soldiers, nuns, cult escapees — describe the same uncanny calm, the same smile, the same bargain. Lucius is no ghost. He's a Principality, an ancient recruiter whose targets aren't the damned or the devout, but the undecided — the lukewarm, wavering between faith and despair.

As supernatural attacks close in, Mara follows the trail from the haunted marshes of Florida to jungle ruins half a world away, and into the shadowy corridors of the Vatican — guided by a battle-scarred spiritual warfare expert and a nun who barely escaped Lucius's grasp. Blog posts, diaries, and case files piece together a chilling global puzzle.

But the deeper she digs, the more personal it gets. Because neutrality is the devil's favorite playground — and Mara has spent her whole life on the fence.

A supernatural thriller about the cost of doubt, the lure of darkness, and the stubborn hope that even where evil lurks, the light still shines.

---