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Is there anything more terrifying than a panic-laden run through a dark and desolate woodland, heavy footsteps not far behind?

This fast and dread-inducing literary run leads us through two timelines — the first encompassing a horrific crime, twenty years ago, irreversibly damaging to the victims, participants, and all of those left behind. This story-line alternates with one on a second timeline, that of a present day setting, a generation later, where past crimes, never truly forgotten, awaken with new and terrible repercussions.

Beckett Bowery, our first person POV narrator, is the voice of our two timelines, represented in dual roles: initially the socially naive (perhaps even ultimately criminal) small-town Virginia college student, and presently the single mother to her own college-bound daughter.

Without giving the plot away, this suspenseful and meandering read takes the reader through the developing story as well as what we understand to be its unravelling backstory, all in the same creepy wooded surroundings of a small Virginia college — peppering mystery, a mother’s terror, twists and turns, and ultimately, disclosures (past and present).

Recommended for lovers of suspense, this is a terrific read for those who enjoy thrillers, and particularly those within an academic setting, where students and their teenage shenanigans can quickly turn from the playful to the deadly.

A great big thank you to Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.