When Jenna Rosen abandons her comfortable Seattle life to visit Wrangell, Alaska, it’s a wrenching return to her past. Long ago the home of her Native American grandmother, Wrangell is located near the Thunder Bay resort, where Jenna’s young son, Bobby, disappeared two years before. His body was never recovered, and Jenna is determined to lay to rest the aching mystery of his death.

But the spectacular town provides little comfort beyond the steady and tender affections of Eddie, a local fisherman. And then whispers of ancient legends begin to suggest a frightening new possibility about Bobby’s fate. Soon, Jenna must sift through the beliefs of her ancestors, the Tlingit–who still tell of powerful, menacing forces at work in the Alaskan wilderness.

The beliefs are shared by Dr. David Livingstone, a Tlingit shaman, who warns Jenna about the danger of disturbing the legendary kushtaka–soul stealing predators that stalk a netherworld between land and sea, the living and the dead. But Jenna is desperate for answers, and she appeals to both Livingstone and Eddie to help her sort fact from myth, and face the unthinkable possibilities head-on.

Armed with nothing but a mother’s ferocious protective instincts, Jenna’s quest for the truth about her son–and the strength of her beliefs–is about to pull her into a terrifying and life-changing abyss….

“deeply moving, superbly crafted and highly unconventional…”  — Washington Times

“Unpredictable and absorbing…” — Publishers Weekly

“A treat…” — The Denver Post