From the author of Broken Bayou, a haunting psychological thriller about how far we’ll go to seize our dreams and shield our secrets—and the devastating consequences when we can’t do both.

Ambitious crime reporter Rita Meade is riding high after her docuseries on the Broken Bayou serial killer. But when an anonymous tip promises the story behind a skull found deep in the Louisiana forest, she hesitates. Because this one strikes too close to home.

As a teenager, Rita attended Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy for Girls in that forest, but the school shuttered its doors after a series of disturbing incidents. Now the man who confessed to the murder of her classmate has recanted, and Rita’s father, the judge who put him away, has fallen ill.

Summoned back to those haunted woods, Rita sorts through the mysteries of a rotting schoolhouse basement. She digs up emotions she buried along with her mother—and secrets she’s tried hard to forget. But when her investigation spreads to her family tree, the TV cameras swing her way. How far will she go for a story that could threaten everything and everyone she loves?

© 2025 by Jennifer Moorhead. ℗ 2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.