A killer’s twisted “game” returns—and this time, Detective John Keegan is the final prize.

Six months after solving the high-profile murder of Hollywood star Patrick Dillons, NYPD homicide detective John Keegan finds himself trapped between two worlds: the life he fought to rebuild and the secret shadows he left behind. He thought the Dillons case was over. He was wrong.

An anonymous tipper—someone who once guided, taunted, and challenged him—surges back into his life with a single, chilling question:
“Would the hero like to finish the game?”

At first, Keegan resists. The tipper claims to have vital evidence on a new murder, but playing along means risking his integrity and the fragile peace he’s built at home. Yet, as the tipper’s information leads him to a body bearing a cryptic note—"1 of 8”—Keegan is forced to accept an impossible alliance. The clock is ticking, and this time, he’s not just chasing a killer. He’s dancing with one.

With every new victim, the stakes climb higher. The tipper manipulates technology to appear anywhere and everywhere, slipping through Keegan’s fingers. Each clue is a move in a deadly chess match; each revelation chips away at the detective’s trust in everyone around him. Even his closest relationships buckle under the weight of deceit, as he hides the tipper’s existence from his partner, his wife, and the world.

When a text arrives—“Meet number four. You will kill him.”—Keegan realizes he’s expected to take an active role in this horror. Worse still, he soon learns the killer’s final victim is meant to be him. To save lives, protect his family, and end the nightmare, Keegan must embrace the deadly puzzle and outsmart an adversary who’s studied his every move. If he fails, he’ll pay the ultimate price.

The Fallen thrusts Keegan into a high-stakes battle of wits, where technology blurs moral lines and the cost of closure may be more than he can afford. How far will one detective go when trapped in a no-win scenario? In this fifth John Keegan Mystery, the hero must decide how the game ends—and who falls with it.