Blake is a cannibal.  He is also incredibly smart, and sometimes consults to the FBI on missing persons cases. In book 1, he had a deal with the director of the local FBI office–the director would give him bodies to eat, and Blake would keep safe the director’s drug addiction secret.  Blake is in love with FBI Agent Reese Thistle.  The two of them grew up in the same orphanage.  She was adopted, he was not, and he spent time living homeless.

In book 2, Blake is the “body disposal” buy for local crime lord Charlie Warner (who is a woman). There are 2 cases going on.  “The Crawdad Man” is abducting and killing middle-aged overweight white men.  It turns out a former call girl of Warner’s has been killing men and stitching them together to make a “giant” sex doll.  She lures the men by hanging out on a kink site for men who are into giants.  At the end of the book, pretty much everyone involved is dead.

Thistle has decided she wants a relationship with Blake, and they have a few nights of sex.  Then Thistle discovers body parts at Blake’s and is convinced that he is the Crawdad Man.  At the end of the book, she has left Houston for points unknown.

The other case is about a grad students who kidnaps and rapes women, records it, and trades the videos with “Fred” who records torture and murder.  At the end of this book,  Blake has found out where Fred lives, and has gone to his house in the woods.  Just before Blake is about to shoot Fred,  Fred mentions that “the other guys” also enjoyed the video.  Blake puts the gun away, presumably so he can find out who these other guys are.