Are the first and second books connected or are they two different stories? I was interesting in buying them once the third book released, but it seems that the third book has disappeared before it even came out. If all three books were supposed to be the same story, I definitely don't want to pick up one and two, just to never see the ending.
Though the main character and a handful of supporting cast carry over from the first novel to the second, the stories are stand-alone.
It's a shame the third novel seems to have died before publication. I remember reading (perhaps on his blog?) an apologetic post from Parker DeWolf as to the lateness of his novel. I believe even that was over a year ago. Perhaps Parker's irretrievably behind? 