Goodreads Summary:

Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that’s what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there’s always something to worry about.

While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.

A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from – and whether she’s better off where she is.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong again delivers an engaging, tense thriller set in perhaps the most interesting town in all of contemporary crime fiction. 

My Thoughts:

I can’t say enough how much I love these series! I think the whole concept is brilliant, and in every book, Armstrong keeps growing this idea, adding in more layers and considerations. I love the characters, the setting, the overall idea and plot arcs – and this book was no exception.

This book begins with finding a baby in the snow, wailing away tucked in the arms of a murdered woman. A horrifying situation anywhere you go, but in the middle of the Yukon it takes on a whole new meaning, a place with little to no services other than what you can do for your own survival outside of your chosen town or community. Because that is the other big thing that happens in this book; we finally get to visit all the neighbors, and you find that Rockton isn’t really as completely isolated as one might think. There are a lot of people roaming about that wilderness, despite all the isolation.

Casey of course knows that she needs to find where this baby comes from, and she and Dalton embark on many excursions into the wild, visiting the few neighboring villages and encampments. I will say, that was the only kind of slow part in this book, all the repetitiveness of them going out again and slogging through the snow and woods. It made sense, but I guess I felt I was too much a part of that part of the journey. But we meet so many new characters – in fact in this book, we see far less of the Rockton residents as Casey and Dalton trek all over the Yukon practically solving the mystery behind the baby. The story that unfolds is fascinating and keeps you guessing. We also learn a few new things about Casey, and about Casey and Dalton as a couple in this book, as we watch them evolve.

I loved this book and I am really looking forward to the next one already!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review!