This is a character driven novel, where the viewpoint rotates among all three characters by chapter.  Rachel is a shy and fragile woman whose life has been defined by a brutal episode in her childhood. She owns a failing gift shop, and gave custody of her only child to her estranged husband while she tries to cope with the demons in her past.  Julie is a small town newspaper feature writer who dreams of making it big, and wants to tell Rachel’s story in a True Crime book - even though Rachel has never agreed to be interviewed, Julie hopes to be the first.  Owen is a teen outcast with violent impulses and dark fantasies who is compelled by an inner voice to travel north to murder Rachel, a woman he has never met.  

The lives of these characters are intertwined on a colliding path that grows increasingly brutal, with a chillingly nihilistic ending.