*Previously published as The Clearing in 2023*

From the author of the Sanctus series comes a brilliant new serial killer thriller featuring forensic specialist Dr Laughton Rees and Detective Inspector Tannahill Khan

‘The ending is genuinely one of the most jaw-dropping ones I’ve read in a long time. Absolutely superb.’ M.W. Craven

‘Unnerved me to my core’ Sam Holland

‘Scared the bloody daylights out of me. The very definition of haunting’ Helen Fields

‘In the spirit of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta… Everything here suggests that Rees merits a long series run.’ Publisher’s Weekly

Maddie Friar is missing

And she isn’t the first.

Women have been going missing around the forest of Dean for decades. Residents usually dismiss the disappearances as runaways.

Maddie Friar's sister, Adele, is frantically searching but local police are no help.

Only forensic criminologist Laughton Rees might know the truth.

There is something dark lurking in this town. Something deadly.