A winter camping trip turns deadly as two missing teenagers, a twisted love triangle, and the spectre of radicalism create turmoil in the remote Laurentian wilderness.

Amanda Doucette’s cross-Canada charity tour is in for a cold snap when she organizes a winter camping trip for inner-city young people in the stunning setting of the Laurentian Mountains. With a view to bridging cultural divides, she brings along a mixture of Canadian-born and immigrant youth.

Trouble begins when two of the teenagers disappear into the wilderness during the night: Luc, a French/English-Canadian with a history of drug use, and Yasmina, an adventurous young woman from Iraq who dreams of becoming a human rights lawyer. Although frantic, their parents are strangely secretive amid suspicions of drug use and forbidden romance. But when a local farmer turns up dead and terrorist material is found on Luc’s computer, the dangers turn deadly. Now in a battle against both the elements and police, Amanda and Corporal Chris Tymko discover a far greater web of secrets and deception.

As Amanda races to save the young people from danger, she finds herself fighting for stakes far higher than their own lives.

? A high-adrenaline plunge into the dangerous and murky waters of homegrown terrorism. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
When the violence begins, there's less interest in who killed whom than in whether the heroine and her friends can foil a diabolical bombing plot. * Kirkus Reviews *
A master of the genre * Midwest Book Review, on Fire in the Stars (book 1) *
? Fradkin, a retired psychologist, creates well-drawn, complex characters, and she knows how to build tension and drama that hold readers to the end. * Publishers Weekly, starred review for book 1 *
Doucette's tendency to rush into action thinking she can solve the problems that arise is at the heart of these novels. * Reviewing the Evidence *
An action-packed story set against a beautiful backdrop. * Crime Watch *
The landscape means that everything you read is focused and tightly plotted so that the characters have to do everything they can to survive. What do people do when pushed to the limits? * The Book Trail *

Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist who is fascinated with why people turn bad. She has written numerous short stories and novellas as well as the critically acclaimed Inspector Green novels. Two of these, Fifth Son and Honour Among Men, have won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. She is also the author of Fire in the Stars, the first book in the Amanda Doucette Mysteries. She lives in Ottawa.