Book description
"Tell Sherry April called." A simple phone message that
shakes Joe Pickett's oldest daughter Sheridan and the rest of the
family to the core. To Joe, it doesn't seem even remotely possible
that April could have survived the massacre described in Winterkill
six years before. He was there, and he was unable to save her. But
Sheridan starts to believe there's a chance that April is still alive,
and her suspicions are confirmed when the person sending texts to her
cellphone is able to recall family incidents only April could know.
Joe, however, remains wary of the messages. But when the texts start
to refer to "bad things," and when Marybeth discovers they
come from locations throughout the West where vicious murders have
taken place, alarm bells go off. Desperate to discover if April is
still alive and to save her from possible danger, Joe, Sheridan, and
Nate Romanowski take to the road to connect the texts with the crimes.
Meanwhile, a dying Chicago mobster named Stenko and a much younger
girl cross the country. He's on a mission to reconcile with his
extreme environmentalist son before he dies. His son is less
interested in reconciliation than in getting his father to repent for
the environmental crimes he's committed during his lifetime. He wants
his father to become not just carbon neutral, but to reduce his carbon
footprint to below zero - as if he'd never even existed. As the path
of Stenko and his companions starts to cross with Joe, Sheridan, and
Nate, the question is raised: Is this young girl April or are the
Picketts the victims of a cruel hoax?
