Summary
It starts with Henry, a nine year old autistic boy who slips away from the adults who are supposed to be watching him and wanders off into the woods. He sees something he shouldn’t. And a woman dies.
Mercy Carr and her dog, Elvis, get caught up in a hunting party their rich neighbor is having. While they’re all rambling on about a bear that got away, Elvis finds the body. An architect, in town to pitch ideas on a project the hunting party is working on. She had been dating Henry’s father. They had argued recently. He’s arrested for her murder.
Mercy and Elvis, along with game warden Troy and his search and rescue dog, Susie Bear, find Henry hiding deep in the woods. He’s possibly seen something that could help with the case, but he’s not talking. Immediately, Henry connects with Elvis and Susie Bear, and by extension, Mercy and Troy. If they can keep him safe and comfortable, maybe he will open up to them, and they can solve the murder.
But when Henry leads them to another body, kicking off a string of trouble that includes a blizzard, it seems keeping Henry safe and solving these murders might be more complicated than Mercy anticipated.
Review
This was a BUSY story! There’s a lot of Henry stuff, plus the murders. There’s also criminal activity in the woods that may or may not connect to the murders. You also have the interesting dynamics at work within the hunting party. And on top of that you have the will-they-or-won’t-they thread between Mercy and Troy. I feel like I got my time’s worth out of this twisty mystery!
Many times I have said I love a story with great kid characters and/or great animal characters. This book qualifies. Henry’s a fascinating kid. I loved his D&D-like references to Mercy, Troy, and the dogs. The author did a great job with the adults who were closest to Henry accepting him as he is. The dogs, who I loved in the first book, were exceptionally written here, especially in their care for Henry.
This series is a must-read for me. If you loved the first book, A Borrowing of Bones, like I did, do NOT miss this one! I don’t know that you have to read these in order, but book 1 does give good backstory for the characters. I didn’t love the ending of this with Mercy, but it’s an interesting way to launch into book 3. The Hiding Place is currently scheduled to release next March.
Rating: ♥♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read