If you go into the woods, you're in for a dark surprise.

Thirty years ago, three girls followed a stranger into the woods. Only two returned. The surviving pair have never been able to remember what happened or what the fate of the third girl was. Local rumours talk of hippies and drugs and mystic rituals, but no one has learned the truth.

This story is just what Rowan Blake needs. He's in debt, his journalistic career is in tatters – as well as his damaged body – and he's retreated to the Lake District to write. Yet even Rowan isn't prepared for the evil he is about to unearth, for the secrets that have been buried in that wood for far too long...

Praise for David Mark:

'Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order' DAILY MAIL

'Truly exhilarating and inventive. Mark is a wonderfully descriptive writer' PETER JAMES

'To call Mark's novels police procedurals is like calling the Mona Lisa a pretty painting. Beautifully crafted, filled with flashbacks, horror, angst, and chilling detail' KIRKUS REVIEWS

David Mark spent more than fifteen years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with the "Yorkshire Post". His writing is heavily influenced by the court cases he covered: the defeatist and jaded police officers; the competent and incompetent investigators; the inertia of the justice system and the sheer raw grief of those touched by savagery and tragedy.

He is the author of the "Sunday Times" bestselling "DS McAvoy" series, historical novels, and psychological suspense thrillers, also writing under the name D.M. Mark.