My Review:

A character driven novel about a man who goes missing in the small rural town of Fallen Mountains.

The descriptive writing brought both the characters and the setting of the rural community to life. The chapters alternate from Before to After the crime and paint a behind the scenes peek at what went on in the town prior to Transom Schultz going missing. Again.

What was supposed to be an easy transition into retirement and Red’s last day on the job as Fallen Mountain Sheriff, has turned out to be a day of bad luck. 

Everyone seems to have secrets, a story to tell and something to hide.

A well-written, multi-layered plot with a small town mystery to solve.

Many thanks to the author for my review copy.  Out March 5,2019

Book Description:

“An intense and engaging portrait of characters driven by—and bound by—the secrets of their pasts . . . an absorbing mystery as well as a gracefully layered story of death and loss in a small town.” —Allen Eskens, USA Today bestselling author of The Life We Bury and The Shadows We Hide

When Transom Shultz goes missing shortly after returning to his sleepy hometown of Fallen Mountains, Pennsylvania, his secrets are not the only ones that threaten to emerge. Red, the sheriff, is haunted by the possibility that a crime Transom was involved in seventeen years earlier—a crime Red secretly helped cover up—may somehow be linked to his disappearance. Possum, the victim of that crime, wants revenge. Laney will do anything to keep Transom quiet about the careless mistake they made that could jeopardize her budding relationship. And Chase, once a close friend, reels from Transom’s betrayal of buying his family’s farm under false pretenses and ruthlessly logging it and leasing the mineral rights to Marcellus shale frackers. As the search for Transom Shultz heats up and the inhabitants’ dark and tangled histories unfold, each one must decide whether to live under the brutal weight of the past or try to move beyond it.