Summary

In the Prologue, the narrator, Adam “Rob” Robert Ryan asks his reader to imagine a summer in a small community. Three children climb the wall that separates the semi-detached homes of the estate from the woods. The narrator indicates that these children will not grow up to be adults.

In Chapter 1, Rob tells his reader to remember that as a detective he craves the truth; but, at the same time, he lies.

Rob read the file of information telling what happened on August 14, 1984, in Knocknaree, the community where he grew up, only one time. Three twelve-year-olds — Germaine “Jamie” Elinor Rowan, Adam Robert Ryan, and Peter Joseph Savage — had gone into the woods to play but had not returned by time for evening tea. Their parents looked for them but did not get worried until they had not returned by the time it...