The town of Black Falls isn't dying so much as it is quietly fading away. No supermarket. No traffic lights. No hope. Donald Maddox has returned to his hometown after fifteen years, a man with no law-enforcement background--indeed, no background at all--who finds himself employed as an auxiliary patrolman on a local police force known to inspire more fear than trust in its citizenry. But when a brutal murder shatters the isolation of this forgotten place, both the local cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide. As the tightly-wound mystery that is Maddox's past begins to unravel, he finds himself ensnared in a deadly conspiracy that ultimately threatens his life, as well as the lives of those nearest him.