A haunting psychological thriller, this suspenseful novel explores the terrifying boundary between mental illness and true evil in a small Pennsylvania town burdened by buried secrets.
Dr. Sheridan Doyle is a polished, media-savvy forensic psychologist—the expert the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office turns to when criminal minds defy easy explanation. But beneath the Armani suits and professional calm lies Danny Doyle, the frightened boy he once was, shaped by a blue-collar mining family, relentless bullying, and the devastating loss of his younger sister, followed by his mother’s psychological collapse.
When Danny returns to his hometown of Lost Creek, a community still haunted by its violent past, he discovers a dead body at the old gallows where Irish coal miners were once executed for rebellion. The murder appears to be linked to the powerful family responsible for those historic deaths, pulling Danny into an investigation that forces him to confront both the town’s long-suppressed crimes and his own fractured history.
Working alongside a veteran detective who once served as a surrogate father, Danny’s search for the killer brings him dangerously close to truths he may not be ready to face—about his family, his past, and the nature of evil itself. With “poignant…achingly beautiful prose” (San Diego Union) and “rich, compassionate storytelling” (Entertainment Weekly), this psychologically rich thriller weaves crime, memory, and guilt into a chilling story of reckoning and redemption.
