The Deepest of Secrets

November 29, 2021
In bestseller Armstrong’s explosive follow-up to 2021’s A Stranger in Town—her seventh novel set in Rockton, an off-grid Canadian Yukon refuge for people looking to disappear—Det. Casey Duncan and Sheriff Eric Dalton, her common-law husband, see their evening disrupted when someone posts a sign accusing Deputy Will Anders of committing homicide before coming to Rockton. Though it’s true Anders shot his army unit’s commanding officer while in a fugue state, Rockton runs on secrecy: nobody knows anyone’s real identity or personal history, and revealing such information is forbidden. After a group demands Anders’s exile and implies everyone who disagrees is hiding something equally heinous that warrants exposure, Casey and Dalton realize they must work quickly to find and punish the culprit before they lose control—particularly since the council that remotely governs Rockton wants an excuse to shutter it. Avalanching complications ensue. Armstrong shrewdly weaponizes her series’ conceit against her characters, pairing demagoguery with paranoia to amplify tension and maximize stakes. The mystery feels manufactured, but the tale still thrills. Rockton fans will be well gratified. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency.