Ex-cop Cam Richter agrees to do a favor for a park ranger: investigate the assault of a young woman in a remote area of Appalachia. Since he knows the terrain better than anyone, the victim's family is hoping that Cam can break a case that local cops can't—or maybe don't want to—solve.

Cam has no idea how dangerous his search will become. Because in these parts, Grinny Creigh and her extended clan destroy those who intrude into their web. The Creighs run a smuggling ring, and control just about every thing and one in their neck of the woods. But they also operate a much worse enterprise—one that threatens to harm anyone who comes too close to unleashing the dark secrets of...Spider Mountain