Bell Elkins returns in the devastating follow-up to Pulitzer prize winner Julia Keller's highly acclaimed A KILLING IN THE HILLS. Acker's Gap, West Virginia: a high-school student - sixteen, full of promise, and pregnant - is found murdered in a car at the bottom of the Bitter River. Her death devastates the community, but one among them must be responsible.

Bell Elkins, Raythune County's prosecuting attorney, is determined to bring the killer to justice. But someone else has their own agenda. Amid the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains, another act of violence is about to strike.

As Bell and Sheriff Nick Fogelsong work to uncover the truth, one thing is certain: no one can truly understand Acker's Gap until they are in the thick of it. Bell returned to her hometown to make a difference. But just how much is she willing to risk?