Cork O'Connor's still hurting from a quarrel with his wife, Jo, when he gets word that her charter plane has crashed over the Rockies near Casper, Wyoming. He and his young son travel to the site in hopes of finding his wife, but no luck.

Six months later, Cork's doing his best to become a good single dad to his son. When two women come to him and tell him an unusual tale about the pilot of the plane his wife had been flying on, Cork agrees to investigate the women's story. He returns to Casper that spring and finds an entirely different environment awaiting him. The law, previously sympathetic, is now close-mouthed and hostile. And someone's trying to kill him before he can get to the truth.

What keeps him searching rather than dropping the case and taking care of his kid is the possibility that his wife still lives and he can bring her home.

This is a gripping and authentic mystery that is tightly and expertly woven. It will keep you up at night wondering precisely what has happened. The pathos of having a young boy attached to this drama is particularly compelling.

This story was of particular interest to me because the action takes place in Casper, Wyoming. Like the lyrics of the old song: they tell me I was born there, but I really don't remember. I journeyed back to Casper several years ago, but only saw the place in springtime. I was born in winter and I'd love to have seen what my Mom remembers about her few months in Wyoming -- a cold, dark place. That's precisely what William Kent Krueger depicts in the first part of the story. Well enough, in fact, that I had to turn the AC down on a 90-degree day. Krueger's an expert in detailing place and person, making both come alive for the reader.