Eleven years ago Professor Dr. Hayden Parrish vanished without a trace during a cruise near the Caribbean island of St. Christopher. Did he somehow fall off the ship? Was he pushed? Did he commit suicide? Or might rumors be true that he faked his disappearance in order to start a new life? And what about the loved ones the professor left behind, forced to live in a state of limbo, constantly wondering? One of these is Parrish’s now-twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Mallory, who travels to the island to seek answers and finds that each question she asks provokes more questions: Did her father conceal secrets about his youth? Who is Joanna Horne, the fellow cruise passenger who claimed to have had more than a passing acquaintance with Dr. Parrish? And why does the woman conjure up feelings of darkness in Mallory? Mallory, while facing hostile encounters and unexpected dangers, discovers strength she never knew she had. Thrust into an exotic locale for the first time, she looks at herself and her past beliefs with new eyes. Does anyone ever really know another person, she wonders? Cassien Le Clerq, a native islander who also lost a father to the sea, turns up one of the first clues to Hayden’s possible whereabouts. “I turn over many rocks,” he tells Mallory. He also insists the island holds many secrets, though most lie beneath the haunting blue waters.
