Before he was known as the Four Monkey Killer, he was just a boy trying to survive.

Charleston, 1999. Fifteen-year-old Anson Bishop didn't mean to kill-not the first time, anyway. Raised by parents who taught him that murder was simply survival, Anson thought he'd escaped his dark past when his home burned and his mother vanished with stolen mob money.

He was wrong.

Someone is hunting Charleston's forgotten children-the runaways, the addicts, the ones no one will miss. When the few people Anson has come to care about vanish into the night, he discovers a truth more horrifying than anything his parents taught him: there are monsters in the world far worse than the one he sees in the mirror.

Behind a door the color of spilled blood waits a killer who has perfected his craft over two decades. To save his friends, Anson must walk through that scarlet door and face a monster. But in doing so, he may become something more dangerous than what awaits him on the other side.

Some doors, once opened, can never be closed.

Discover where it all began in the first of three prequels to New York Times bestselling author J.D. Barker's wildly popular 4MK series.