Moving from Boston to remote Bearkill, Maine, isnāt homicide cop Lizzie Snowās idea of a step up. But breaking away from tragedy and personal betrayal is at least a step in the right direction. Her dead sisterās fate still torments her, as does her long-missing nieceās disappearance. Lizzie hopes to find the mysteriously vanished child here, amid the coming ice and snow. But in the Great North Woods, something darker and more dangerous than punishing winter is also bound for Bearkill.
The town is a world apart in more than distanceāfull of people who see everything, say little, and know more than theyāll share with an outsider. The only exceptions are the handsome state cop who once badly broke Lizzieās heart and desperately wants another chanceāand Lizzieās new boss, sheriff Cody Chevrier, whoās counting on her years of homicide experience to help him solve his most troubling case, before itās too late.
A rash of freak accidents and suicides has left a string of dead menāall former local cops. Now the same cruel eyes that watched them die are on Lizzieāand so is the pressure to find out what sort of monster has his hooks in this town, what his ruthless game is, and just how brutally heāll play to win. Whatever the truth is, its twisted roots lie in the desolate backwoods of Aroostook County: where the desperate disappear, the corrupt find shelter, and the innocent lose everything. Itās there that a cunning and utterly cold-blooded killer plans the fate of the helpless lives at his mercyāone of whom may be the lost child Lizzie will do anything to save. As a blizzard bears down, and Bearkillās dark secrets claw their way to the surface, Lizzie gears up for a showdown that could leave the deep, driven snow stained blood red.