The dead girl lay face up on the edge of the pond, a snake coiled in the muddy hollow of one arm. For Police Chief Nalen Storrow it is a shocking reminder of the violence he thought he had put behind him when he moved his family to the small town of Flowering Dogwood, Maine. And now Storrow's search for the truth leads to a chilling possibility: the murderer might be his own son, Billy.
Eighteen years later the murder of the girl in the pond has not been solved. Now another cop is obsessed with the case - Rachel Storrow, Nalen's daughter. No sooner does Rachel reopen the investigation than another young woman disappears. A cunning and merciless psychopath is moving undetected through the town, and once again Billy is a suspect. Plunged into a world where darkness follows even the innocent, Rachel must unearth secrets that span decades and face a staggering personal truth.
'Darkness Peering' is a harrowing suspense debut with turbulent depths and revelations that continue to surprise until the very last page. But it is also a powerful portrait of a cop who walks the tightrope between honour and justice, and in doing so tests her own humanity.
