Awake in the Dark (L T Vargus) Books in Order

Awake in the Dark is a paranormal horror series about Jeff Grobnagger, a twenty-seven-year-old who would rather be left alone. That becomes difficult when his seizures start dropping him into a different place, a dark alley where a hooded stranger kills him. Each time, Jeff wakes back in his regular life with the memory of dying still fresh and no clear answer for what is happening.

Jeff is not a polished supernatural hero. He is confused, tired, defensive, and often funny in the way people can be when panic has gone on too long. He wants to understand the seizures and get back to a quiet life. Instead, the questions keep multiplying. Are the episodes visions, dreams, astral projection, or evidence that another reality is pressing through into his own?

That uncertainty drives the series.

Starting with Fade to Black, the story follows Jeff as he tries to connect the alley, the hooded figure, and dangers that begin showing up outside the episodes. In Bled White, a burned body and a strange robe pull him toward a murder investigation and a group called the League of Light. Later books widen the world further, bringing in bigger threats and making the line between Jeff's waking life and the other side even harder to trust.

Jeff does not have all the answers, and neither do the people around him. Louise, a private investigator, gives him someone practical to work with when the situation becomes impossible to ignore. Glenn brings a more offbeat energy. Other people may be frightened, helpful, deceptive, or simply caught in the same mess. The series gets a lot of tension from that uncertainty about motives and loyalties.

The books mix real dread with gallows humor. There is violence, cult activity, murder, and an unsettling sense that the rules of reality are slipping. But Jeff's voice keeps the story from becoming overly solemn. He is not impressed by cosmic horror. He is mostly annoyed that it has ruined his day, again.

The five books form one continuing storyline: Fade to Black, Bled White, Red on the Inside, Back in Black, and Beyond the Blue. The mysteries and relationships build from one book to the next, so this is a series best read in publication order. It begins with one man trying to explain a recurring nightmare, then grows into a stranger and more dangerous story about what might be waiting beyond the edge of ordinary life.