Marcy and Davy James have an idyllic life in the stunning and remote island community of Sitka, Alaska. The small town of 8,000 people is bitterly divided over a federal highway that would cut across the island’s wilderness – and Marcy leads the fishing community’s fight against the road construction.
Her 12-year-old son, Gavan James, also resents any intrusion into the lush temperate rainforest. Precocious and with a tendency to find trouble, he urges his best friend to skip school and hike into the Tongass National Forest to spy on the road’s engineering consultant and gather any evidence to stop the construction. Not long afterward, the proposed road is the scene of brutal murder – and Marcy receives an anonymous threat to leave town.
A mother and son work separately and at cross purposes to find the killer and expose secrets behind an unnecessary road that would forever change the character of an Alaskan community.
Author Susan Froetschel was a reporter for five years in Alaska and most recently assistant editor of YaleGlobal Online.
"Solid environmental mystery."