An unfathomable reduction or an unthinkable criminal offense? #1 NY Times bestselling writer Tami Hoag will keep you speculating in her most harrowing thriller however.

A panic-stricken girl runs in the deceased of night time, battered and bloodied, desperate to find help….

When Detective Nick Fourcade enters the home of Genevieve Gauthier outside the sleepy city of Bayou Breaux, Louisiana, the bloody crime picture that awaits him is both the most brutal as well as the most confusing he’s ever seen. Genevieve’s seven-year-old kid, about The Boy: A Novel KJ, continues to be murdered by an alleged intruder, yet Genevieve is usually alive and well, a witness inexplicably left behind to tell the tale. There is no evidence of pressured entry, not a idea that points to a motive. In the mean time, Nick’s wife, Detective Annie Broussard, sits in the emergency room with the grieving Genevieve. A mother herself, Annie understands the psychological devastation this girl is certainly going through, but as a detective she’s stressed by a tale that makes little sense. Who would murder a kid and leave the only see behind?

When the very next day KJ’s occasionally babysitter, twelve-year-old Nora Florette, is reported missing, the city is up in arms, fearing a maniac is preying on their children. With pressure mounting from a tough, no-nonsense fresh sheriff, the press, and the parents of Bayou Breaux, Nick and Annie dig deep in to the dual mysteries. But sifting through Genevieve Gauthier’s tangled internet of fans and sorting through a cast of local lowlifes brings even more questions than answers. Is definitely someone from Genevieve’s history or present responsible for the death of her kid? Is the missing teenager, Nora, a sufferer, or something worse? After that everything adjustments when Genevieve’s past being a convicted legal comes to light.

The spotlight falls heavily around the grieving mom who’s both victim and accused. Could she possess killed her personal child to free of charge herself of the responsibility of motherhood, or may be the loss of her beloved son pushing her to the edge of insanity? Could she have something regarding the disappearance of Nora Florette, or may be the stressed teenager the key towards the murder? How far will Nick and Annie have to head to uncover the dark truth from the young man?