Travis Wren possesses a singular talent for locating missing persons by touching their private belongings. His search for a vanished novelist leads him to Pastoral, a secluded community hidden deep within a forest and founded on the rejection of modern society. Decades after Travis himself disappears near the settlement, a resident named Theo discovers Travis’s abandoned truck. This discovery threatens the safety of Theo’s wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee. The community operates under a strict fear of Rot, a lethal contagion they believe exists outside their borders, enforcing a total isolation that masks long-held secrets about the colony’s origin and the true fate of outsiders.
Readers who enjoy atmospheric psychological thrillers and stories about cult dynamics will find this narrative effective. It suits those interested in how isolated groups use collective paranoia and shared folklore to maintain social control. The book provides a study of how fear dictates human behavior and the difficulty of distinguishing manufactured truth from reality. A reader finishes the story with a clear understanding of the psychological cost of artificial isolation and the inherent risks of trading individual autonomy for the illusion of total security.
- Published
- 2021
- Language
- EN
