A thrilling novella about a disturbing crime in a quiet small town, from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Linwood Barclay.

Private investigator Cal Weaver doesn’t usually get involved with domestic troubles in his hometown of Promise Falls, NY–and those of the Carson family are no exception. When their son Chandler’s brutal short story, about one kid beating another kid to death with a baseball bat, lands him in trouble at his new school, Cal is reluctantly pulled into the situation as a favor to a friend–but he’s convinced there’s nothing he can do.

But when Chandler’s friend Mike is found murdered, in the same exact way, and Chandler is accused of the crime, Cal now wants to figure out what really happened. And as he digs deeper into the mystery, along with the school’s guidance counselor Lucy Brighton, he realizes that a few well-placed lies can not only ruin lives, but also end them.