No one knows for sure why Don Maddox has returned to his hometown of Black Falls, Massachusetts. And no one understands why a man with no law enforcement background has hired on with a police force that inspires more fear than trust in its citizenry. What is certain is that Maddox has been asking a lot of questions in his off-hours: about the activities of his fellow patrolmen, the disappearance of a local sex offender, and the recent incursion of crystal meth into the region. When a brutal murder shatters the isolation of this tiny hamlet, both the local cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide from the arriving state police homicide detectives. As the tightly wound mystery that is Don Maddox's past begins to fray, he finds himself ensnared in a widespread conspiracy that ultimately threatens his own life, as he learns that even the smallest of towns can harbour the deepest, deadliest secrets.
