The little girl's bright blue eyes are wide with fear, her hair tousled, her tears making tracks in the dirt smudged across her cheek. Curled tight in a tiny ball, it's as if she wants to hide away forever. "He took her!" she cries. "He took my sister!"
When a desperate mother calls Denton police department to report her children missing, Detective Josie Quinn races to investigate. Sixteen-year-old Kayleigh and her little sister Savannah went for a walk in the woods but never came home. They are good girls and know not to go far, say their frantic parents. Kayleigh always looks after Savannah and brings her home safely. Until now...
Even as she vows to bring the sisters home safely, Josie's blood runs cold: because they are not the only missing children. Rumors are spreading about the legend of "The Woodsman" when pairs of children go into the woods, The Woodsman takes one of them and only one comes out alive. With local teenagers daring each other to walk into the woods at night in pairs, Josie knows that nobody is safe from the hysteria sweeping Denton. Little Savannah Patchett is soon mercifully found alive, alone and terrified, but she tells Josie "The Woodsman has taken my sister".
All Josie's leads seem to reach dead ends: her team traces Kayleigh's scent to a dank, dark cabin in the woods, but the owner has an alibi and there is no evidence that Kayleigh has been inside. When Josie persuades Kayleigh's classmates to talk, she learns that Kayleigh herself had a secret boyfriend whose identity is a mystery. Josie is desperate to track him down and to work out if he could hold the key to solving the case.
Then Josie's worst fears come true: another pair goes missing and one of them is found dead soon after. Another teenage girl, lying straight and still, a halo of blood surrounding her beautiful blonde hair.
Josie knows that the legend of The Woodsman is nothing more than a story, but the truth is far more horrifying... With Kayleigh still out there somewhere and the TV news filled with stories of a serial killer at large, how far will Josie have to go to find the killer before more innocent lives are lost?
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