June Lyons, the former FBI-agent-turned-small-town-cop introduced in the acclaimed Ice Shear must solve two connected cases whose roots stretch back decades in time—and dangerously touch the lives of those closest to her.
As a police officer in the rust belt town of Hopewell Falls, New York, June Lyons keeps an eye on the abandoned factories that line the Mohawk River. Spotting a slick of gasoline running across the parking lot of an old apparel factory, she quickly heads inside the building, where she discovers an unconscious woman too close to the flame. The fire destroys the building down to its sub-basements, and the badly burned woman June rescued is in a coma. No one knows who she is or how she got there.
Thirty years ago, June’s father made a name for himself when he arrested the factory’s owner, Bernie Mede, for killing his wife and child, though their bodies were never found. Sifting through the factory’s ruins, June and her partner Dave Batko discover a woman’s body sealed in a barrel. Surely, it’s Luisa Mede and the case file can be closed. But the body isn’t Bernie’s wife, it’s Dave’s mother, a troubled party-girl who disappeared when Dave was young.
As June and her neighbors discover, beneath Hopewell Falls’ charming façade lies some unbearably ugly truths—secrets that are only beginning to surface. With the case growing more complex, she teams with FBI Special Agent Hale Bascom to find answers—before everyone she loves, and the town itself, spin dangerously out of control.
“A haunting, expertly constructed mystery.”—Lou Berney, Edgar Award–nominated author of The Long and Faraway Gone
As a police officer in the Rust Belt town of Hopewell Falls, New York, June Lyons keeps an eye on the abandoned factories that line the Mohawk River. On patrol she spots a slick of gasoline running across the parking lot of an old apparel factory; inside, an unconscious woman lies near smoldering piles of old fabric. The fire destroys the building down to its subbasements, and the badly burned woman June rescued is in a coma. No one knows who she is or how she got there.
Thirty years earlier, June’s father arrested the factory’s owner, Bernie Lawler, for killing his wife and child, though their bodies were never found. Sifting through the factory’s ruins, June and her partner discover a woman’s body sealed in a barrel. They’re sure that the body will be Luisa Lawler’s and her cold case file will finally be closed. But the body isn’t Bernie’s wife’s, and the discovery triggers a new cycle of violence and revenge that threatens to destroy her family and friends.
Beneath Hopewell Falls’s small-town facade lie secrets that are only beginning to surface, and with the case growing more complex, June teams with FBI Special Agent Hale Bascom to find the truth—before everyone she loves, and the town itself, spins dangerously out of control.
"A haunting, expertly-constructed mystery in which the past is a burning fuse that leads straight to the present."
