Read : A Murderous Relation Read : The Forest of Ghosts and Bones Read : Goldilocks Read : Cold as Ice Read : The Prized Girl Read : Final Cut
A young boy finds himself at the center of a murder mystery in this timely and twisty thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Lost Girls—a compelling and indelible story set in small town America that examines the burden of guilt the bitter price of forgiveness and the debts we owe our dead both recent and distant. A body burns in the high desert hills. A boy walkA young boy finds himself at the center of a murder mystery in this timely and twisty thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Lost Girls—a compelling and indelible story set in small town America that examines the burden of guilt the bitter price of forgiveness and the debts we owe our dead both recent and distant. A body burns in the high desert hills. A boy walks into a fire station pale with the shock of a grisly discovery. A middle school teacher worries when her colleague is late for work. By days end when the body is identified as local math teacher Adam Merkel a small Nevada town will be rocked to its core by a brutal and calculated murder. Adam Merkel left a university professorship in Reno to teach middle school in Lovelock seven months before he died. A quiet seemingly unremarkable man he connected with just one of his students: Sal Prentiss a lonely sixth grader who lives with his uncles on a desolate ranch in the hills. The two outcasts developed a tender trusting friendship that brought each of them hope in the wake of tragedy. But it is Sal who finds Adams body charred almost beyond recognition half a mile from his uncles compound. Nora Wheaton the middle schools social studies teacher dreamed of a life far from Lovelock only to be dragged back on the eve of her college graduation to care for her disabled father a man she loves but cant forgive. She sensed in the new math teacher a kindred spirit--another soul bound to Lovelock by guilt and duty. After Adams death she delves into his past for clues to who killed him and finds a dark history she understands all too well. But the truth about his murder may lie closer to home. For Sal Prentisss grief seems heavily shaded with fear and Nora suspects he knows more than hes telling about how his favorite teacher died. As she tries to earn the wary boys trust she finds he holds not only the key to Adams murder but an unexpected chance at the life she thought shed lost.Weaving together the last months of Adams life Noras search for answers and a young boys anguished moral reckoning this unforgettable thriller brings a small American town to vivid life filled with complex flawed characters wrestling with the weight of the past the promise of the future and the bitter freedom that forgiveness can bring.(less)