Hellbender

AN INCIDENT HAS OCCURRED IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS ... Several boats have been destroyed by an inexplicable predator, and puzzling biological samples have been left behind. An attack in front of many witnesses draws media, military, accredited scientists, and bilious cryptozoologist Carl Curtis, who believes his hypothesis of an ancient species confirmed. Lieutenant Sadie Krszczynski has had an uphill battle convincing the Coast Guard that her talents and competence outweigh the liability of her color blindness. But suddenly her vision deficiencies make her uniquely qualified to see an animal perfectly adapted for ocean camouflage. Introspective ex-homicide detective Trey Johnson has come to the islands to escape his past. Now in business for himself, he lands a pair of missing-persons cases that lead him to the mystery on the water and put him back in the limelight-for better or worse. Suddenly the sleepy islands are a hive of grandstanders, trophy hunters, and opportunistic drug traffickers, and Sadie and Trey find their lives increasingly entangled as the hysteria explodes. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert William Grofe was born in Philadelphia and has lived in the area for most of his life. He currently resides in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. He holds a B.A. in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins and has been writing professionally for 15 years. During college, he was a staff writer and illustrator for the student-run Black and Blue Jay in Baltimore and regular cartoonist for the university newsletter. He worked as a freelance reporter for the Newtown Square County Press before joining The Vanguard Group in Malvern, where he now copy edits corporate reports and marketing materials. He enjoys traveling and has spent many weeks sailing in the Caribbean and the Chesapeake Bay, which he believes has fueled many of his ideas. He writes fiction in his spare time (mainly during months while football is in its off-season); he has completed three novels and various short stories. Hellbender is his first published novel.