The monster in chains has the key to her past. But the real threat was never locked away at all.. Dr. Hanna Nowack is a professional at keeping the world's most dangerous men safely behind glass. But she's never met a monster like Richard Hale. A brilliant, charismatic serial killer, Hale shatters Hanna's composure when he requests her by name. Their sessions spiral into a chilling, claustrophobic game of mirrors and manipulation as Hale exposes fragments of Hanna's past-memories she's buried and questions she never dared to ask about her husband's death. Inside the concrete quiet of Great Meadow, Hale offers Hanna pieces of a puzzle she never meant to solve: the secrets her husband never told about his criminal family, and the danger that didn't die with him. Each session tightens the noose-clinical questions turning into confession, fascination into fear. And somewhere in the dark, someone is watching. To uncover the truth, Hanna must decide which monster to face: the one in chains, or the one she invited in. Because the closer she gets to Hale, the more she begins to wonder if the real threat was never locked away at all. Book One in The Lies That Bind Us series. Continue Hanna's story in Book Two, Beyond the Truth. Note: This novel contains mature themes and psychological intensity consistent with the thriller genre. Support resources provided.