In this fourth book of the Hap Maryland saga, Hap and his little family, joined by tough-as-nails glamor girl Suellen Ransom, take a break from a hard year in steaming hot Gabbro, NC by going for a gentle hike in the Smokies. Cool breezes, mountain views, silence, camaraderie, virgin forests. There, they encounter eco-poet and wilderness saint Derwood Barnes Cather and his slightly off-kilter son DB. Is DB just an idiosyncratic guy, certainly shy, and maybe an egg shy of a dozen, or is he something a good deal more sinister ...
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In this fourth book of the Hap Maryland saga, Hap and his little family, joined by tough-as-nails glamor girl Suellen Ransom, take a break from a hard year in steaming hot Gabbro, NC by going for a gentle hike in the Smokies. Cool breezes, mountain views, silence, camaraderie, virgin forests. There, they encounter eco-poet and wilderness saint Derwood Barnes Cather and his slightly off-kilter son DB. Is DB just an idiosyncratic guy, certainly shy, and maybe an egg shy of a dozen, or is he something a good deal more sinister? Why is there a human bone on the trail that leads to their wilderness retreat? What is DB's back story? None of the answers to these and other natural questions about Derwood and DB are apparent at first glance, and the more Hap and his charges learn, the less at ease they are. It will take an ultimate sacrifice from one of them and broken hearts from the rest, before answers begin to emerge. And the more answers emerge, the more the tension and horror builds. Join Hap Maryland, his adored wife Lee, and collegians Bethany and Suellen as they struggle to emerge sane and whole from the fastnesses of the Smoky Mountains. Share Hap's fear, pain, and desolation as he learns the truth not only about "Saint of the Hills" Derwood Cather and DB, but about Lee, and the secret she's hidden for all the years of their idyllic marriage.
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