Part of Rizzoli & Isles, book 10
First published 2012
Teddy Clock faces an unthinkable reality at age fourteen. A killer has murdered his foster family, leaving him the sole survivor. This marks the second massacre in his young life. Two years earlier, his entire birth family was slaughtered while he escaped. Detective Jane Rizzoli takes the case and recognizes the danger immediately. She moves Teddy to Evensong, a private boarding school in Maine that shelters young crime victims. The school teaches survival skills to traumatized children behind locked gates and wilderness barriers. Jane suspects the two massacres connect to something larger than coincidence. Her fears prove correct when bloody dolls appear hanging from trees on school grounds. She meets other students, Will Yablonski and Claire Ward, whose tragic histories mirror Teddy's own. A predator circles multiple victims with methodical precision. Jane partners with medical examiner Maura Isles to protect the children. They must uncover a buried secret that threatens all the young survivors before the killer completes his twisted mission.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, serial-killer
Setting: Evensong, Maine
338 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: child-abuse, murder, violence