Small-town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel. Can anyone ever escape their past? Masterful #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag is back with a riveting, emotionally powerful thriller.

Small-town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel. Can anyone ever escape their past? Masterful #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag is back with a riveting, emotionally powerful thriller.

Masterful #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag is back with a riveting, emotionally powerful new thriller.

Small-town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel. Can anyone ever escape their past?
 
A murder victim dumped at the dead end of a lonely country road, face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast, is not the way sheriff’s detective Nick Fourcade wants to start his week. His only lead takes him to the family of a hometown hero suddenly gone missing. Marc Mercier left his home for a weekend hunting trip and hasn’t been seen since.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s detective Annie Broussard begins her first day back on the job after suffering a brutal attack by taking on the case of B’Lynn Fontenot, a mother desperate to find her grown son, a recovering drug addict. Robbie Fontenot has been missing for eight days, but the local police have no interest in the case, telling B’Lynn that an adult has the right to disappear, and a missing addict is no big surprise. But B’Lynn swears her son was turning his life around. Sympathetic to a mother’s anguish, Annie agrees to help B’Lynn, knowing she’s about to start a turf war with the city police.

As Annie searches for Robbie Fontenot, and Nick investigates the disappearance of Marc Mercier, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems in the lives of either man. And it’s still not clear whether either --- or neither --- of them might be the unidentified murder victim. Old jealousies and fresh deceits, family loyalties gone wrong, and love turned sour all lay a twisting trail that leads deep into the Louisiana swamp, endangering all who cross the path of a bad liar.

From the acclaimed author of THE LONGEST RIDE and THE NOTEBOOK comes an emotional, powerful novel about wondering if we can change --- or even make our peace with --- the path we’ve taken.

From the acclaimed author of THE LONGEST RIDE and THE NOTEBOOK comes an emotional, powerful novel about wondering if we can change --- or even make our peace with --- the path we’ve taken.

From the acclaimed author of THE LONGEST RIDE and THE NOTEBOOK comes an emotional, powerful novel about wondering if we can change --- or even make our peace with --- the path we’ve taken.

Tanner Hughes was raised by his grandparents, following in his grandfather’s military footsteps to become an Army Ranger. His whole life has been spent abroad, and he is the proverbial rolling stone: happiest when off on his next adventure, zero desire to settle down. But when his grandmother passes away, her last words to him are find where you belong. She also drops a bombshell, telling him the name of the father he never knew --- and where to find him.

Tanner is due at his next posting soon, but his curiosity is piqued, and he sets out for Asheboro, North Carolina, to ask around. He’s been in town less than 24 hours when he meets Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and single mom. They both feel an immediate connection; Tanner knows Kaitlyn has a story to tell, and he wants to hear it. To Kaitlyn, Tanner is mysterious, exciting --- and possibly leaving in just a few weeks.

Meanwhile, nearby, 83-year-old Jasper lives alone in a cabin bordering a national forest. With only his old dog, Arlo, for company, he lives quietly, haunted by a tragic accident that took place decades before. When he hears rumors that a white deer has been spotted in the forest --- a creature of legend that inspired his father and grandfather --- he becomes obsessed with protecting the deer from poachers.

As these characters’ fates orbit closer together, none of them is expecting a miracle...but that may be exactly what is about to alter their futures forever.