DETECTIVE CASSIDY ARCHER ALWAYS GETS THE JOB DONE. SHE JUST MAY NEED TO BEND THE RULES TO DO IT.
A single mom with a taste for danger, Cassidy prefers cases that will take her away from drab reality into the dark world of lawlessness. So when she’s assigned to investigate the sudden disappearance of a young woman with little evidence that anything may actually be awry, she isn’t thrilled.
But as Cassidy begins to learn more about Sarah Foster and those closest to her, the case is more intriguing than she thought. Sarah had been renovating her new house---a former school for troubled children---and uncovered some disturbing things left behind in its walls. Had Sarah exposed a secret someone is desperate to keep hidden? Struggling to balance finding Sarah and her responsibilities as a parent, Cassidy’s personal life becomes intertwined with the case---and Sarah is no longer the only one in danger.
The suburban gated community of Eden Village is a safe place, they are told. Enclosed by a thick stone wall with only one way in and one way out, it promises refuge from the violence, crime, and uncertainty of city life. The application process is extensive and the rules are strict, but for fearful residents, it’s a small price to pay to live in a community that hasn’t seen one instance of crime in fifty-five years.
To celebrate its crimeless history, residents participate in The Breach, a one-day annual event in which one person is anonymously assigned to carry out a harmless crime. This year, someone has broken into Fitz Mercer’s cottage. It’s a simple crime but for one unusual detail: a riddle left by The Crook that hints of a more sinister intent. As a security guard elected detective for the day, Tripp begins to follow its clues, encountering more riddles that reveal residents’ darkest secrets—including his own. Later that evening, Tripp realizes that the break-in was a diversion from a much more serious crime: kidnapping. Battling The Association’s reluctance to disrupt the sense of safety and the increasing evidence that Eden Village is not what it claims to be, Tripp must uncover the truth and confront his own chilling past to find the missing child before it’s too late.