The prologue of the novel sets up the atmosphere for the rest of the plot. It introduces a perspective of a little girl sensing someone or something watching her from the woods, and the reader is empathetically sensing the unease and creepiness of it. It ends with a horrific but expected outcome, the girls gets snatched up by the hands from the forest and the novel jumps into the introduction of the main heroine, Josie Quinn.
From the first chapter of the novel, there is an immediate push into the action. A young girl is missing in the small town of Denton, and the police are occupied with the search. On the other hand, Josie is unable to participate and do her job because she got suspended. Josie is dealing with some things in her life. Her husband whom she’d known her entire life cheated on her, and her job with the police force is in jeopardy. But, Josie is intent on doing the right thing. She wants to uncover the truth at her own risk.
It slowly becomes clear that the search for the vanished girl is in vain, and Josie uncovers that the police might be involved with the disappearances, especially after she connects another case of a missing woman, whose testimony of what had happened to her was intentionally covered up by the police as a hoax.
June Spencer is another important character in the novel, the helps Josie get closer to the truth. A rebellious girl, and a niece of the teacher who was left hospitalized after suspicious involvement with gang members at the beginning of the novel, June comes into the picture as a vanished girl who was retrieved from being imprisoned by a local creep. June is catatonic, and she lashes out and kills a nurse at an elderly home she was brought to. The same home that Josie’s grandmother is staying at coincidentally, and Josie is a direct witness to the scene.
As the novel is approaching its climax, Josie is uncovering that the Denton police is directly involved with the vanishing girls, and learns the unpleasant truth that her soon-to-be ex-husband Ray is directly involved. She discovers that a local man, coincidentally a neighbor of her old grandparents’ house, is the one behind it all. Nick Gosnell has a dungeon on his property where he keeps the kidnapped girls for his twisted sexual exploitation, as well as exploitation by the local men including police officers, doctors and the like. Nick Gosnell is the husband of the nurse who was killed by Jane. After the sacrifice of Ray and Chief of the police - who was trying to uncover the truth like Josie, Josie kills Nick and the truth about the vanishing girls is about to be uncovered to the world.
Upon reading this novel, it can be concluded that Josie, the fearless heroine, is not a flawless character. She, in fact, is very flawed, but her urge for justice and uncovering the truth prevails. It being a detective thriller novel makes one suspect every character from the start. There are very specific details mentioned involving every character that corroborate that, for example Luke’s decision to not tell Josie about his ex-fiance or the swelling of Nick Gosnell’s eyes as he is shown on his wife’s funeral. The acrylic nail found by Josie in the woods is also one of the telling signs that something is foul at play with the police from the very start. In conclusion, the reader is immersed into the novel alongside Josie to connect the clues and uncover the mystery.
