Jack Caffery is called to the scene of a chilling crime. A man and wife had been taken prisoner in their own home. When they are discovered the man is very near death having been beaten and tied to a radiator for days. The woman is in better shape, but the real horror is the disappearance of their eight-year-old son, Rory. They had been restrained in such a manner and in such places that they were unable to see what the kidnapper was doing with their child for three days in their home.

Their home is adjacent to a park and the military is quickly called to do a search by helicopter. Nothing is found but a small spot that reflects heat, but when it is searched nothing is there. In the days that follow, stories abound among the neighborhood children that a troll has captured Rory.

The childlike fear of a troll coming down from the trees to hurt children reinforces the similarity of this crime to another one of Jack’s youth. Years ago, his nine-year-old brother left their tree house, started to walk home by himself, and was never seen again. Jack has not really moved past this either physically or psychologically. He still lives in the same house of his youth and nasty old man Penderecki who lived next door is still there. Jack had always suspected Penderecki of killing his brother, and Penederecki is doing much to keep that suspicion alive.

Jack’s significant other is obviously someone he met in a prior book who had been the victim of a rape. The author sets the scene with his and her baggage, mixes it with the parallels in the current case to the old unsolved case, adds to it the antics of Penderecki and the story moves forward into nightmare territory.

Hayden’s characters are as complex as the plot. The dialogue is snappy, but slangy. For an American audience the slang is a bit difficult to comprehend, and goes far past what most readers would understand.

The pacing is intense and unrelenting. Had it been more varied it would have made for easier reading. Sometimes the scene shifts are difficult to keep up with, but detracting as all these factors are, it is still an incredibly well told story, enhanced tremendously by the author’s talent in the creation of simple but compelling images.

--Thea Davis