Beauty is a curse and Hope McKenzie is beautiful. But she hates it.
She has a brain if only people could look beyond what they see.
These days what they see though is a single mom, struggling to make ends meet, while reporting for a tiny newspaper in a town where nothing ever happens.
Knoxsville might as well have had a sign welcoming visitors to Dead End USA.
Nothing ever happens in this weirdly perfect town.
Until October 31, 2018.
Hope would never forget the day when eight-year-old Darcy Denton disappeared.
It was a story that consumed her every waking hour and beyond.
But when curiosity leads to the truth, Hope disappears.
When Jane Madarang's neighbor Natalie kills herself and leaves behind cryptic instructions, it's up to Jane and her classmates to unearth deadly secrets.
*****
Natalie Driscoll is dead.
She threw herself out a window and left her neighbor Jane to unravel their town's darkest secrets. Following Natalie's instructions leads Jane to three other high school students who all have something to hide. The four of them must carry out Natalie's final errand while solving the mysteries written in her diary. But the secrets they unearth may be far more dangerous than what they ever imagined.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains scenes of suicide, violence and murder that may be triggering for some readers.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]