Sera Fleece is recently divorced, out of a job and at extreme loose ends. Her only emotional outlet is a true crime podcast hosted by Rachel Bard. Rachel's stories of unsolved crimes of the missing keep Sera company as she struggles with depression and loneliness. When Rachel suddenly stops posting new episodes and there are no new updates on her social media, Sera is thrown for a loop. The only thing she can think to do is find out what has happened to Rachel, who may have disappeared just like the subjects of the podcast. Sera does a deep dive into Rachel's life and tracks her last location in the back country of northern California. There, outside of a small rural town, Sera finds the Fountain Creek Guest Ranch, owned by Rachel's parents. Sera is determined to find out what happened to Rachel and to that end she gets herself hired on at the ranch. Once in place she realizes that not only is no one looking for Rachel, Rachel may not be the only woman to have disappeared from the area.
This debut psychological thriller piles on the layers of dark and foreboding to claustrophobic effect and gives us a cast of characters who all seem suspicious, including Sera. All while the author is threading the needle in Sera's obsessive quest, so that the reader is never quite sure what's real and what's not. Nicely done.