Buck Lawson faces his most difficult challenge yet this thrilling second installment of The Blood River series.

With the Fourth of July coming up and the Mercy police force already stretched to its limit, police chief Buck Lawson investigates a fraud complaint that leads him to a missing newborn and a terrified, runaway mother. At the same time, the skeletal remains of two young boys are discovered buried on the property of a prominent citizen. As if that weren’t enough, the ghost of Buck’s predecessor, former chief Billy Aikens, pays him an unexpected visit...only this time it is not Billy’s ghost, but his son, Junior. Junior’s purpose in returning to Mercy is as mysterious as it is unsettling, and Buck gradually comes to suspect that Junior holds the key to at least one, if not both, of his current cases.

Though still adjusting to a new job, a new town, and a new family, Buck is acutely aware that the probationary period specified by his contract with the City of Mercy is almost up. His relationship with the mayor has never been ideal, and he knows he could be fired at any time. It therefore seems imprudent to refuse when the mayor asks him to do a favor for an old friend and political ally, Jarrod Whitley.

Whitley is the owner of the legendary Hollowgrove Plantation, which has been an institution in South Georgia for 200 years. The completely self-sustaining 9400-acre estate operates under its own set of rules which includes, as Buck soon comes to understand, a uniquely self-serving interpretation of the law. But when a young woman is murdered, the web of secrecy protecting Hollowgrove begins to unravel, revealing a network of illegal activity that has gone undeterred for decades. It’s up to Buck and his small band of loyal officers to do what no one has been able to do before: stop this empire of crime before anyone else dies. But time is running out, and the ruthless operators will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.