As It Never Was

Seven years ago Mark Siebert disappeared while on his paper route in downstate Mount Logan. The local police chief opened a missing person case while simultaneously labeling the boy a runaway and denying his detective’s request to involve the FBI. Two months later a transient drunk confessed to killing Mark and burying his body in a national forest.

Despite a massive hunt, Mark’s body was never found.

Now a man has approached Mark’s parents, claiming their son is alive and wants to come home. Could it be true? Or is it a con? The Sieberts ask Detective Jake Houser for help. They have one condition: that he keep the cops out of it.

Jake owes the Sieberts, so he accepts their terms.

He will wish he hadn’t.

Jake’s off-the-books investigation digs up the depraved and twisted secrets of powerful men with unlimited resources. Will these dangerous forces erase every link to the past before Jake can find the truth?

Is Mark Siebert still alive? Or is it all an elaborate con?