He has nothing left to lose but this case. Can he rescue a young victim before there’s another death on his conscience?

Sheriff Jax Turner is staring down the barrel of his broken past. On the brink of ending it all, he feels like a failure following his daughter’s tragic passing and his subsequent divorce. But when a schoolgirl vanishes and her backpack is found in a sex offender’s backseat, the weary lawman drags himself into action and vows to nail one last sociopath.

Shocked to discover the missing preteen’s aunt had lost her life in an abduction years prior, the devastating outcome that he’s taken personally, Jax believes the killer has returned with a vengeance. But as the desperate cop frantically hunts down a mysterious relative in search of a suspect, the girl’s time keeps ticking away…

Can the jaded sheriff take down the culprit and bring the poor youngster home alive?

Thank you so much to Level Best Books and NetGalley for the advance copy of this surprising and coiled mystery. There are so many twists and turns that actually kept me guessing, and I can honestly say I never saw the ending coming! Mary Keliikoa has given us a protagonist that is so relatable and easy to root for– and when I saw this was the first in a series I was so excited to know his story wasn’t ending!

We meet sheriff Jax Turner as he is quite literally staring down the barrel of a gun. He has lost his daughter, is burdened by the mistakes of crimes unresolved, and has a strained relationship with the town he has sworn to serve and protect. Jax is done… until he isn’t. He receives a call that a teenager has been abducted and instantly feels the call to right the wrong of another missing (but found dead) teen years ago. The plot thickens as Jax learns of connections between the two cases, and he suddenly finds himself dredging up the past– including his own personal ties that he thought were severed forever.

Jax encounters many misdeeds throughout Misty Pines in his search for Allison. His leads come up with nothing truly substantial until he is joined by psychiatrist Elena Massey. Her connection to the crisis opens the investigation wider and wider until both of them are swallowed into it. The chase into the dark becomes a race against time as Allison’s hours away from home mount. This detective (well, sheriff) story turned psychological thriller is sure to grab your attention and keep you hooked until the case is solved!

5/5 stars