The tiny outback town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of Australia. Once a thriving center of stockyards and sheep stations, years of punishing drought have petrified the land and Nannine has been whittled down to no more than a stoplight, a couple bars, and a police station.And it has another, more sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of young Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago.

Mina McCreerys life has been defined by the intense public interest in her sisters casewhich is still a hot topic in true-crime chat rooms and on social media. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her familys sunbaked destocked sheep farm.

Enter Lane Holland, a young private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases.

Before she died, Minas mother funded a million-dollar reward for anyone who could explain how Evelyn vanished from her bed in the familys farmhouse. The lure of cash has only increased public obsession with Evelyn and Minabut yielded no answers.

Lane wins Minas trust when some of his more unconventional methods show promise. But Lane also has darker motivations, and his obsession with the search will ultimately risk both their livesand yield shocking results.

Compulsively readable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters,WAKEis a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when peoples private tragedies become public property, and how its never too late for the truth to come out.