The Topher Trilogy by James Noll

Raleigh’s Prep: After a terrible prank gone wrong, three young men, Topher, Michael, and Kenneth find themselves at Raleighs Prep—a Juvenile Detention Center for the Delinquent Children of the Fantastically Rich. Basically, juvie for rich kids. The boys think theyre going to serve out their time, finish their education, but then, three weeks into their term, they find a mangled body on the practice fields. More bodies follow. With the help of their friends, Marvin Grimm, I Dennis, and the enigmatic Warren Crews, they decide to investigate—inadvertently unleashing the horror that lurks in the woods that surrounds the campus. A mixture of horror and humor, Raleighs Prep is witty and interesting with interesting characters, quite a lot of death and gore and some twists and turns. (Amazon Reviewers) Tracker’s Travail: Trackers Travail picks up the story of Topher, Zorn, and Gertrude years after their escape from Raleighs Prep. Having survived the horror of Raleighs, they are now Transcendental Trackers, making their living by traveling the country and ridding the world of its supernatural filth. After being kicked out of Danville, VA, they arrive in Fredericksburg, Virginia just in time to stop a Class IV CZA (Catastrophic Zombie Apocalypse). Soon the men are embroiled in various other misadventures. They deal with a squid monster that keeps coming out of the Rappahannock and killing people. They encounter the ghost of a Confederate Civil War soldier who terrorizes them in their new home. And finally they attract the attention of a collector whos interest in them is somewhat less than charitable. Who would have thought such a quaint little town could be so lethal? Topher’s Ton: The end of the world comes in a barrage of bombs, a rush of tsunami, and a hail of meteors. Topher, still recovering from his kidnapping by a deranged serial killer, manages to not only survive, but nearly rebuilds civilization. If it weren’t for Rasheed, the demented boy-god with a tank, or Nurse Smith, the deranged leader of a group of crazy doctors, or Liam Chris, a deranged despot seeking revenge, he might have been successful.