Hired to find a boy gene missing in Doraville, North Carolina, Harper Connelly and her brother Tolliver head there, only to discover that the boy was the only one left of several who had disappeared over the previous five years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways.
All calling for Harper.
Harper soon finds them eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterward, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave."
I find Harper and Tolliver to be rather interesting protagonists — two people just trying to make a living from an unusual gift and keep to themselves, but who keep getting pulled into other people’s affairs. In this case, the discovery of a serial killer, an attack on Harper, and several other events all conspire to keep the two in Doraville much longer than they’d like. I’ve decided that this has been my favorite book of the three, maybe because we actually get a taste of a happy Harper in this one. Granted, her happiness comes from a realization of shared feelings between herself and her “brother”, but I had been told to expect it. I was afraid I might feel icky about their relationship, which appears incestuous from the outside, but by the time the book got to it I was prepared. Harper had already stopped thinking about him as her brother, so as a reader, I did too. I’m sad that this series hasn’t been continued yet, because I’m really interested to see how things continue for Harper and Tolliver.
This is the first book in the series I listened to instead of read, so I wonder if the audio production is what made me enjoy it more? That is an interesting rumination for another time.
