Fall, 1985. Four fifth-graders make a gruesome discovery in
the forest near a local park in quiet, pleasant Oak Knoll,
California. A woman has been murdered and buried in a
shallow grave, her eyes and mouth glued shut. The
children's teacher, Anne Navarre, arrives at the scene as
well, shocked and horrified not only at the body but that
her students now have these nightmarish images in their
heads. Her studies in psychology never prepared her to deal
with something like this -- particularly with one of the
students, who shows a disturbing fascination with the crime
scene.
When another young woman disappears and local police
connect two previous killings in the area with the same MO,
they know time is of the essence. Detective Tony Mendez
contacts his former teacher at the FBI Academy, Vince
Leone, one of the bureau's stars in the still-developing
field of profiling. Leone's overworked colleagues aren't
sure there's enough criteria to involve a formal FBI
investigation, so Vince decides to go on his own time. He,
Mendez and Anne are soon sucked into the hunt for a serial
killer, which involves sifting through the dirty laundry
hidden behind the pristine facades of suburbia. Turns out
the murderer isn't the only one in Oak Knoll who has some
damning secrets.
This compelling chiller follows not only the pursuit of a
vicious, cunning criminal, but the devastating effects on
the children who witnessed his handiwork. It's soon
revealed that these kids didn't have fairy-tale home lives
to start with, and their roles as witnesses bring them and
their parents into a harsh spotlight. There are some very
unpleasant people in this pleasant little town, and readers
will find themselves fascinated as much as disturbed. While
I felt that some of the characters were a bit flat, the
book grabbed me from the first and never let go.
Tami Hoag is in a class by herself, beloved by readers and
critic s alike, with more than 22 million copies of her
books in print. With Hoag's first novel for Dutton, she
proves anew why the Chicago Tribune called her "one of the
most intense suspense writers around."
California, 1984. Three children, running in the woods
behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female
body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children
is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery
and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence.
What she doesn't yet realize is that this will mark the end
of innocence for an entire community, as the ties that bind
families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered in the
wake of a serial killer's escalating activity.
Detective Tony Mendez, fresh from a law enforcement course
at FBI headquarters, is charged with interpreting those now
revealed secrets. He's using a new technique-profiling-to
develop a theory of the case, a strategy that pushes him
ever deeper into the lives of the three children, and closer
to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes
as intense as his own. As new victims are found and the
media scrutiny of the investigation bears down on them, both
Mendez and Navarre are unsure if those who suffer most are
the victims themselves-or the family and friends of the
killer, blissfully unaware that someone very close to them
is a brutal, calculating psychopath.
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