The seaside community of Malibu, California is what dreams are made of, but beneath the bright exterior is a dark underside. When a thirteen-year-old boy goes missing under suspicious circumstances and a barking dog leads deputies to a battered body on a popular hiking trail, Malibu Times reporter Brody Cooper fears evil rearing its sinister head. Out to get the story he stumbles down a trail of greed and environmental double-dealing that takes him face to face with an impulsive killer - and his own demons.Penelope Grenoble is an award-winning journalist, editor and author who has spent her career covering the issues and controversies that define Southern California. This is her first work of fiction.