"C.J. Box owns the modern American frontier." -Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Cry Havoc
"Raining here, but I've got a cup of hot tea and a Joe Pickett novel, so who has it better than me?" -Stephen King
When two children and their nanny vanish without a trace from an elk camp, Governor Rulon sends Joe Pickett to Afton, Wyoming, to investigate.
Still reeling from the after-effects of a near-fatal gunshot wound, Joe joins a state and federal task force and teams up with local game warden Roger McEniry to search camps and hunting parties-but Star Valley is a tight-knit community that doesn't give up its secrets easily.
Joe and Roger are stymied by powerful local elders who seem intent on steering the investigation, and even the children's own mother appears ready to accept the worst. Suspicion soon falls on two dangerous misfits with motive, means and opportunity, but Joe may be the only one left who believes the children are still alive.
Back in Saddlestring, Sheridan Pickett and Sheriff Sondergard uncover an elk-poaching case that points to something darker. As the two investigations advance, Joe is pulled towards a reckoning with people who will do anything to keep the truth buried.
Autorentext
C. J. Box is the author of twenty-seven Joe Pickett novels, eight stand-alone novels, and a story collection. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and two Barry awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38, the Western Heritage Award for Literature, and two Spur Awards. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He has been executive producer on television series based on his books, including ABC TV's Big Sky and Joe Pickett on Paramount+.