Fixated on his relentless hunt for Danzig and guided by the fragmented memories of another, Reed is compelled to the mysterious town of Aurora, Alaska. His search intersects with the case of Hazel Hill, a missing intern from the local paper, who vanished while investigating her best friend's suspicious death. Caught trespassing by the local sheriff, Reed is coerced into a deal: help the sheriff solve Hazel's disappearance . . . or face charges for breaking and entering.

Joining forces once again with Detective Natalie De La Cruz, Reed's case sweeps them across a landscape shrouded in snow and secrets. Aurora, with its cursed history and sudden prosperity from Aurora hybrid apples, holds more than meets the eye. Relentlessly pursuing the town's closely held secrets, Reed and De La Cruz encounter the covert operations of the Malum Genetix facility under the aegis of the Rexford dynasty, and the spectral tale of the Sirak, a legend as mysterious as Aurora itself.

Their quest for justice uncovers a deep vein of deceit, linking Hazel's tenacious reporting, a recent rash of unexplained fatalities, and the insidious spread of corporate avarice that threatens to tear the town apart.