A long-buried disappearance and a long-lost treasure both reemerge over a summer in Portugal’s remote Azores, in the new thriller from the critically acclaimed author of The Chateau.
Ten years ago, a group of teenage American summer campers came to São Miguel, an island in the lush and isolated Azores archipelago, for a rugged five-week hiking and heritage trip. But a clue surfaced related to a local legend of buried treasure that would turn everything in the finder’s life to gold. The summer devolved into a frenzied treasure hunt, and culminated in the disappearance of “it girl” camper, Sydney Azulay. Sydney was never seen again, rumored to have been murdered, and the treasure never found.
Now, a decade later, Sydney’s father is hosting a memorial service on São Miguel, and Sydney’s closest circle returns to honor her memory: fellow campers Olivia, Sydney’s sister, once deemed the most likely to have been involved in Sydney’s disappearance; the aloof, handsome Aiden, the supervisor of their trip; and Jules, the counselor so close to her campers she was like another best friend. They’ve also all agreed to participate in a documentary probing what really happened to Sydney. But not everyone has innocent motives for returning to the island all these years later.
The group reunites in paradise and retraces their old haunts, hiking along crater lakes, strolling the town’s charming cobblestone streets, and submerging in thermal hot springs. But amidst the reunion, there are eerie sightings of a woman on the island who looks just like Sydney. And when the documentary filming reveals new, explosive truths, and fresh hints resurrect the tantalizing treasure hunt, the group begins to implode. Old feuds and betrayals reignite—and then one of them turns up dead.
Which means that a murderer has surfaced…again.
