The Sandman Duet Books in Order
Part ofKeri Lake Books in OrderSee The Sandman Duet by Keri Lake in order, with quick summaries, series background, and where to start with this dark romantic thriller.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
2 books
Nocturnes & Nightmares
by Keri Lake
2019
When young socialites vanish around Chicago, struggling single mother Nola Tensley is only trying to build a normal life. Then handsome newcomer Rhett Voss rents her in-law suite and leads her straight toward a serial killer's trail.
Requiem & Reverie
by Keri Lake
2019
Hitman Rhett Voss knows the Sandman better than anyone, and he knows Nola may be the killer's next target. Protecting her turns an old vendetta into a brutal cat-and-mouse game where both men want the same woman.
Series background & context
The Sandman Duet is one of Keri Lake's clearest straight-thriller projects, and it is built to be read as one long, tense story. The setup is simple and nasty in the best way: young women are disappearing around Chicago, a serial killer is leaving signature marks behind, and a struggling single mother ends up far too close to the danger.
That mother is Nola Tensley. In Nocturnes & Nightmares, she is trying to hold together a normal life for herself and her son when Rhett Voss answers her ad for the little suite behind her house. He is charming, strange, and obviously carrying more than he says. The closer Nola gets to him, the more she is pulled toward the shadow of the Sandman.
Requiem & Reverie takes the same setup and tightens the screws. Rhett has a personal connection to the killer and understands his methods better than anyone should. Protecting Nola turns into a hunt, the hunt turns into obsession, and the duet becomes a cat-and-mouse game where bait, hunter, and target keep changing places.
It really is a duet, not two separate adventures.
That matters because the tension is cumulative. The mystery, the romance, and the emotional reveals are all designed to build across both books. If you jump into the second one cold, you miss the slow turn from suspicion to attraction to outright terror that makes the payoff land.
The tone is dark romantic thriller. Expect serial-killer suspense, gore, manipulation, and a love story that never feels safe. Rhett is not a clean-cut protector, and Nola is not written as a helpless victim. She is under pressure, yes, but she is also resourceful, watchful, and central to the danger rather than just standing beside it.
The shadows are the point.
If you want Lake's obsession with damaged men, dangerous chemistry, and morally shaky choices in a more contemporary frame, this series is a great pick. It trades monsters for human evil, but it keeps the same interest in how attraction, fear, and survival can blur together when the stakes get high enough.
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