The Lonely Dead picks up a few months after the end of The Straw Men. Ward is looking for answers while trying to stay off the radar, Nina's back at the FBI, and John Zandt - well, he may have lost his mind. The Upright Man is still out there, somewhere, and a new plot line takes us to the Pacific Northwest, where a lost man sees something incredible. The Lonely Dead features the same strengths that pulled me into the first book: well-developed characters, good dialogue, and mysteries that never seem to get fully unraveled. Though I didn't love it as much as The Straw Men, the second book in this series is still excellent, and it's an enjoyable chapter in the Straw Men series.