For seventeen years, the English hamlet of Jude’s Ferry has lain abandoned, used only for army training exercises. Before then, the isolated, thousand-year-old community was famous for one thing---having never recorded a single crime. But when local reporter Philip Dryden joins the army on practice maneuvers in the empty village, its spotless reputation is literally blown apart. Artillery fire reveals a hidden cellar beneath the old pub, and inside the cellar hangs a skeleton, a noose around its neck. No one knows---or will say---who the victim was.
Two days later, a terrified man is pulled from the reeds of a nearby river, with no idea of who he is or how he got there. The only name he can remember is “Jude’s Ferry.”
As Dryden searches for the secret history of the dead town, he is also witnessing a kind of rebirth: Seven years after the accident that nearly killed her, his wife, Laura, is finally emerging from coma and paralysis to begin a semblance of normal life. But will that semblance be enough for her---or for Dryden?
The English hamlet of Jude's Ferry has lain abandoned for many years. The isolated 1000-year-old community was famous for never having recorded a single crime. But when reporter Philip Dryden follows the Army to the empty village, its spotless history is literally blown apart. Practice artillery shells reveal a hidden cellar beneath the old pub and inside the cellar hangs a skeleton, a noose around its neck.Two days later, a man is pulled from the reeds of a river--he has no idea who he is or how he got there. But he knows the words 'Jude's Ferry' are important, and he knows he is afraid.Hot on the case, Dryden is convinced that these mysteries are related and that he must return to Jude's Ferry and uncover it's haunted past. But who or what is waiting for him there?
