The water ripples as the girl’s body escapes the reeds and floats silently upwards. Her beautiful face—blue eyes frozen open, skin as white as snow—breaks the surface. But it’s too late, this innocent soul has taken her final breath…
When camp counselor Carolyn Sable’s body is found floating in a lake beside Eagle Ridge Summer Camp, Detective Katie Scott must dig deep to stay focused. As a child, Katie spent many happy weeks at that camp toasting marshmallows on the fire with her best friend Jenny… until the day Jenny disappeared. The loss will always haunt Katie, but Carolyn’s inconsolable family need answers.
Searching the area, the devastating discovery of two more bodies sends the case into a tailspin. Suddenly on the hunt for a serial killer, Katie’s blood turns to ice when she finds newspaper clippings about her own past cases planted near one of the bodies. Was this twisted killer banking on Katie taking the lead? And why?
Carolyn was adored by children and staff at the camp, so Katie thinks her sudden resignation is key to cracking the case. Uncovering a tragic accident involving a group of children the weeks before Carolyn left, Katie knows she’s getting close.
But when the carefully laid trap Katie sets to catch Carolyn’s killer backfires, Katie finds herself in unthinkable danger and unable to even trust her own team. Can she stay alive long enough to crack the toughest case of her career, and how many more innocent lives will be lost before she does?
Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells.
In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.
My thoughts: this was really good, as with the rest of the series, it’s action packed and the case is really compelling. Bodies found mutilated on an old campground, related to a terrible accident twenty years before.
Katie and McGaven are on the case, but in danger as the killer seems to be happy to set off explosives and start fires to stop them from finding him. Katie’s K9 Cisco is the real hero in the book though, with an action scene perfect for Hollywood. What a good boy.
There’s several suspicious characters and the trail seems cold when they find out their chief suspect is dead, but could someone be carrying out these horrific crimes on their behalf? And Katie keeps seeing the ghost of her childhood friend Jenny, abducted from the same campsite when they were children. Is her PTSD going to stop her from solving this one?
As always the writing and research is meticulous and hooks you instantly into the story, though I’m glad we don’t have summer camps in the UK, nothing good seems to happen at them. The detectives risk their lives a fair amount and the sheriff, who’s also Katie’s uncle, must have a lot of grey hair from all the worrying he does.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour
ramblingmads 