She could hear nothing but the sound of her own heartbeat. It was dark and the rough ground scraped against her as she tried to move. Being alone was strange to her—she was so used to her big family, to the noise, the warmth, but the last thing she wanted was for the woman to return…

When Detective Clara Jefferies returned home to Alber, Utah, she knew it would take a long time to convince the closed community to trust her. So she is surprised to be called to private land up in the mountains until she hears that the bones of a young girl have been found. And hidden in the dark depths of the grave are the remains of a baby too…

Digging into the town’s missing persons files, Clara is shocked to discover that pregnant girls have been going missing for years. And when she spots Ash Crawford, the first cop on the scene, praying over the bodies, she begins to suspect that he knows more about the victim than he’s letting on.

With Crawford staying silent, and the identity of the girl still unknown, Clara’s only choice is to visit every family living on the mountaintop, desperate to find what they might be hiding. But doing so means facing the man she was once bound to, and the tall iron gates of the ranch she ran away from all those years ago.

Then another pregnant girl is reported missing, and Clara ramps up her search, racing to find her alive. But can she uncover the town’s dark secrets in time to save both the girl and her unborn child?

A heart-pounding crime thriller that twists and turns like a rollercoaster, leaving you on the edge of your seat. Readers of Lisa Regan, Linda Castillo, and Kendra Elliot will be completely addicted.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

He’s super tall, like a tree. And he had on a big hat. And he showed Mom the picture, and she got upset. Madder than she used to get at my dad before she threw plates at him and we left him.

Listening to her, I thought about how my ex-husband had threatened me just a night earlier, saying he’d ban me from Heaven. I considered how beautiful faith could be, but also how a tiny minority, those who falsely claimed to be religious, sometimes tragically misused it to manipulate others. It brought to mind the Bible verse about wolves in sheep’s clothing.

My Review:

This was an intense read, full of brutal and vile men hiding behind a ridiculous religion to abuse their children and wives, and idiotic women who enabled and allowed it to continue.   It boggles my mind but it continues to happen all around the world to varying degrees. The storylines were all taut with tension, active, and fraught with desperate and nightmarish situations, intrigue, painfully realistic and jaw-dropping cruelty, and extreme frustration. It was a real page-turner and my brain was rippling with curiosity, distrust, and wild theories. I was so wrong, and actually quite happy about it. Kathryn Casey weaves dark, itchy, and cringe-worthy tales and agilely does so with an uncommonly insightful skill set that kept me reading even though I was flinching. She has mad skills.