22 year old Eileen goes missing whilst hiking - alone. The nightmare for any parent. Especially when one of the guidelines for hiking in this particular forest is to go with a group.
Fast forward to anxiety on the part of a friend Todd and a group of friends led by her brother Chris to try to find out what happened to Eileen, particularly as the local police seem rather lethargic about the whole thing.
On the other hand we have a detective whose spirit has been worn down by personal nightmares whilst in the course of duty, and a constant putting down by her superior. No wonder the investigations do not lead anywhere, just trying to get to the daily workload seems enough for Carla.
When pressure mounts however Carla has a Eureka moment when she digs out the dusty archives and sees exactly how many people have gone missing over the last couple of years. A more systematic approach reveals many things ignored upto now.
When Chris and his friends provide photographs of what seems to be a huge animal hovering over Eileen (when her camera was discovered in a stream) though initially skeptical Carla has to rethink strategy.
With a cast of very different youngsters - cranky, self centred, clever and foolish at the same time, focused and unfocused at the same time we are dealing with a story that was imaginative and fantastic and quite possible also.
A bit of a mixed read for me but quite a change from the usual mystery books I read. My first read of this author and I've got another one to read as well.