To stop a serial killer terrorizing the hills of rural Washington state, retired sheriff Amos Fielding must re-enter a world he's tried desperately to escape.
It's 1989 and Amos Fielding, one time sheriff of Oscar, Iowa, is in his early seventies and grieving the recent loss of his wife, Sara. He packs up his few belongings and heads to a ranch in the far northwest corner of Washington state. A destination he justifies by its distance from Oscar and from his years as a sheriff and a life spent witnessing the evil that men do. Eager to escape these painful reminders, Fielding throws himself into the daily chores of a gentleman rancher. But there is evil afoot, as dark as any he faced in Oscar.
A cold blooded, amoral psychopath has been stalking troubled young women in the surrounding woods, staging elaborate scenes of his crimes. The local sheriff has turned a blind eye to the cases. In fact, the only law enforcement agents genuinely concerned about justice are Dee Batey (a recovering alcoholic and former detective turned wildlife officer) and Philip Wilson (an overly ambitious and weirdly obsessed young Seattle FBI agent). It is Batey and Fielding's growing friendship that provides the lure that will pull Fielding back into the world he so desperately wants to escape, hunting a killer who is more predator than prey.
