This book will be published by Little, Brown, and Company on August 18, 2015. I decided to read it because I knew the author lived in Bloomington, IN (at least part time) and the story took place mostly in a fictional small town in southern Indiana. Being an Indiana girl, born and raised, I was intrigued. I truly enjoyed the story. It has quite a bit of suspense and mystery, which kept me flying through the pages. The most fascinating part of the story to me was the setting in southern Indiana where caves and caverns are plentiful. I’ve been through many caves in that area, but only in the portions where public are allowed of course. I find the rest of the cave system dark and creepy, and one couldn’t pay me to be in them. Perhaps that is why this book gave me such a chill at times.
Mark Novak has lost his wife and the murderer has still not been caught or punished. For fear that he may lose his job due to his rash behavior, Mark’s boss, Jeff sends him to a small town named Garrison, Indiana to check out a cold case disappearance and possible homicide from 10 years ago. Ridley Barnes, the local crazy and best known cave expert is thought to have been involved in the disappearance and death of Sarah Martin, whose body he pulled from Trapdoor cave 10 years ago. The problem is that Ridley claims to not have any memory of his time in the cave or how he found Sarah’s body and brought her to the surface. He contacts Mark and asks him to come and investigate the case to see if he can finally provide the truth for Ridley and others. Was he involved? Did he kill Sarah? What really happened? Mark heads from his home state of Florida to snow covered, cold Indiana and has no intention of doing much with the case, only appeasing his boss. However, he soon becomes involved in more ways than one and even after a near death experience, decides to stick around until he uncovers the truth, no matter who or what tries to get in the way. Like I said, I would totally recommend this book because it is well written and fascinating. I was surprised at the ending because it didn’t end like I thought it might. Also, I think the author left it open for a sequel, or at least more stories with Mark Novak in them. I do hope he writes another one soon. Read it…you won’t be sorry!
Librarian Laura 