A Darkness Absolute

December 5, 2016
In Armstrong’s gripping follow-up to 2016’s City of the Lost, Det. Casey Duncan and Deputy Will Anders find themselves stranded during a snow storm while trying to track down a cabin-fever stricken member of Rockton, an isolated, off-the-grid town deep in the Canadian Yukon. Forced to shelter overnight in a cave, Duncan and Anders make a horrific discovery—a woman thought killed has instead been held captive in a pit for more than a year. Further exploration of the cave system leads them to discover the bodies of two women, with signs pointing to the same perpetrator. Duncan and Sheriff Dalton have reason to believe that this time the threat comes from outside the borders of Rockton, which serves its residents as a haven. But the investigators can’t escape the fact that members of their own tiny community have dark—and potentially dangerous—secrets hidden in their pasts. The unusual setup and isolated location increase tension in a fast-paced entry that will keep readers guessing. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada).

December 15, 2016
The police investigation of a kidnapping in a small, off-the-grid town is complicated by the suspicion that the rescued victim is perpetrating a hoax. Everyone in Rockton agrees that the town is completely unknown to the world outside. That's the reason people come there in the first place. For some of the residents, it's a matter of taste, but for others, it's a matter of survival. Former homicide detective Casey Butler has made herself at home in the small town, though she's still coming to terms with the fact that her move was a reaction to her manipulation by a former friend (City of the Lost, 2016). Living off the grid suits Casey, and she's navigating a new relationship with surly town sheriff Eric Dalton, who shares her interest in researching Rockton residents' real reasons for coming there. One day, while Dalton's off on a supply run, Casey and the only other member of the police force, Deputy Will Anders, try to catch an apparently fleeing resident in the woods only to become trapped themselves. As snow quickly falls, the two hide out in a cave seeking to keep warm for the night. When it appears that they're not the cave's only residents, they explore and turn up Nicki, a young Rockton resident who's been missing and presumed dead for over a year. The story Nicki tells Casey and Will starts them on a search for the man who kidnapped her. Now if only they could be sure whether they're on a manhunt or a wild goose chase. A dark, creepy story.

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September 15, 2016

In City of the Lost, first in Otherworld creator Armstrong's new series, homicide detective Casey Duncan fled to off-the-grid Rockton in the Canadian wilderness. Now she and sheriff's deputy Will search for a resident who's stomped off but instead encounter dead bodies, a former resident held captive, and a big blizzard.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017

Living off the grid in the isolated Canadian town of Rockton appealed to former homicide cop Casey Duncan; like so many of the other residents, she's trying to shake unpleasant memories from the past (City of the Lost). She's even struck up the beginnings of a relationship with prickly Sheriff Eric Dalton. While he is off on a supply run--Rockton isn't the sort of place with a supermarket--Casey and Deputy Will Anderson pursue a Rockton local hell-bent on running deep into the woods and straight into a blizzard. Casey and Will take shelter from the storm in a cave, only to make a gruesome discovery: a woman presumed dead for nearly a year has been kept prisoner there by a mystery man, who could be out hunting more girls if Casey and Will can't catch him before he goes to ground. VERDICT Armstrong gives her cop-with-baggage backstory a twist, making Casey a singularly skilled but humanely flawed protagonist, adrift in a quirky utopia that's as dangerous as any big city. [See Prepub Alert, 8/15/16.]

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.