"It's August 1984 and paper boy Christopher Stewart has gone missing. Hours later, twelve-year-old Sammy Cox hurries home from his own paper route, red-faced and out of breath, hiding a secret. Crystal, Sammy's seventeen-year-old sister, is worried by the disappearance but she also sees an opportunity: The Stewart case has echoes of an earlier unsolved disappearance of another boy one town over. Crystal senses the makings of an award-winning essay, one that could win her a scholarship and ticket out of their small Iowa town. Officer Dale Goodkind can't believe his bad luck: another town and another paper boy kidnapping. But this time, he vows that it won't go unsolved. As the abductions set in motion and unpredictable chain of violent, devastating events touching each life in unexpected ways, Dale is forced to face his own demons."--Publisher description.