On a summer evening in 1954, 16-year-old Nancy Denton walked into the woods of her hometown of Whytesburg, Mississippi. She was never seen again. Two decades on, Sheriff John Gaines witnesses a harrowing discovery. A body has been unearthed from the riverbank, perfectly preserved, yet bearing evidence of a brutal ritualistic killing. Nancy has come home at last. Already haunted by his experiences in Vietnam, Gaines must now find out what really happened to the beautiful and vivacious Nancy. As he closes in on the truth, Gaines is forced to not only confront his own demons, but to unearth secrets that have long remained hidden. And that truth, so much darker than he could ever have imagined, may be the one thing that finally destroys him.
RJ Ellory sets out his stall with terrific vim and a gripping premise in his latest thriller... an energetic and winning exercise in pulp fiction with a Southern Gothic flavour. - METRO
Voodoo and murders and gothically imposing southern dynasties - what's not to like? There are moments of genuine chills, fearsomely speedy page-turning and real humour... an enjoyable summer read. - OBSERVER
Another page turner... an enjoyable whodunnit that keeps the twists and turns coming until the very end. - NEWCASTLE JOURNAL
Author
About R. J. Ellory
R.J. Ellory is a critically acclaimed author whose novels include the bestselling A Quiet Belief in Angels, which was a Richard & Judy Book Club selection and won the Nouvel Observateur Crime Fiction Prize. Ellory's novels have been translated into twenty-six languages, and he has won the USA Excellence Award for Best Mystery, the Strand Magazine Best Thriller 2009, the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for A Simple Act of Violence, the St Maur Prize, the Avignon Readers' Prize, the Livre de Poche Award and the Quebec Laureat. He has been shortlisted for a further thirteen awards in numerous countries, including four Daggers from the UK Crime Writers' Association. Despite the American setting of his novels, Ellory is British and currently lives in England with his wife and son.
He has also written books under the name Roger Jon Ellory, which can be viewed by clicking here.
In 2011 R. J. Ellory was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library, awarded to an author for a body of work.
