All the residents in Rockton, an off-the-grid town in the Yukon wilderness, respect that everyone there has secrets. In fact, the town was created for people who need to hide out--no one arrived without having been involved in something at least unsavory and, at worst, murderous. But at the start of the absorbing The Deepest of Secrets by Kelley Armstrong, Rockton's deputy sheriff, Will Anders, is publicly but anonymously outed as having committed a brutal killing. The town erupts with discontent, divided between people who demand Will's immediate removal and those who defend his exemplary record in Rockton.
Detective Casey Duncan begins by looking for the person who made the accusation--revealing others' secrets violates a town rule--but she ends up finding the primary suspect nearly dead from an attack in the surrounding woods. And then there's an actual murder. On top of all this, Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are bracing themselves for the possibility of Rockton being shut down by the powers-that-be who financed and built it. Where would everyone go? How would their secrets remain hidden?
Though Deepest of Secrets is number seven in the series that launched with City of the Lost, readers who haven't read the previous books can enter Armstrong's world without confusion, thanks to the helpful introduction. Before chapter one, all the important information about Rockton and its central residents is provided. The characters, even the cantankerous ones, have grown into a fascinating community over the course of the series. Their fates are left somewhat uncertain, but the ending remains satisfying--and even keeps the door open to new adventures for Casey and her friends. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja