The Woods

Twenty years ago, four teenagers at summer camp walked into the woods at night. Two were found murdered, and the others were never seen again. Four families had their lives changed forever. Now, two decades later, they are about to change again.

For Paul Copeland, the county prosecutor of Essex, New Jersey, grief at the loss of his sister has only recently begun to subside. Cope, as he is known, is now dealing with raising his 6-year old daughter alone after his wife has died of cancer. Balancing family life and a rapidly ascending career as a prosecutor distract him from his past traumas, but only for so long. When a homicide victim is found with evidence linking him to Cope, the well-buried secrets of the prosecutor's family are threatened.

Is this body one of the campers who disappeared with his sister? Could his sister be alive? Cope has to confront so much he left behind that summer 20 years ago: his first love, Lucy, his mother who abandoned the family, and the secrets that his parents might have been hiding even from their own children. Cope must decide what is better left hidden in the dark and what truths can be brought to the light. And can he find absolution?

Once again Harlan Coben delivers his unique mix of powerful characters, lightning pace and twists in a stunning new novel about family, lost secrets and mistakes that can haunt a life forever.