Part of Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus, book 26
First published 2021
Detective Peter Decker arrives in the small town of Greenbury when Bertram Lanz disappears during a field trip from the Loving Care Home. The entire community searches the surrounding woods but finds no trace of the missing man. Decker teams with partner Tyler McAdams to investigate what becomes an official missing persons case. The veteran detective suspects Bertram left with someone he trusted rather than wandering off alone. Their probe leads to Elsie Schulung, a recently terminated nurse who showed particular interest in Bertram, but she vanishes too and blood appears in her kitchen. The case grows more complex when searchers uncover remains from three young men who disappeared years earlier on a camping trip. Meanwhile, Decker faces personal turmoil as the biological mother of his foster son Gabriel suddenly returns to New York with children, creating emotional chaos. Decker and McAdams sift through old files and mounting evidence while searches continue for both Bertram and the missing campers' remains, wondering if the woods will reveal their secrets.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, missing-person
Setting: Greenbury, Loving Care Home, New York
Period: contemporary
368 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: death, violence