It's embarrassing, how far behind you can get. Especially when it involves a very favourite author.
From the Blurb:
People are disappearing in Christchurch.
Cooper Riley, a psychology professor, doesn’t make it to work one day.
Emma Green, one of his students, doesn’t make it home.
When ex-cop Theodore Tate is released from a four-month prison stint, he’s asked by Green’s father to help find Emma. After all, Tate was in jail for nearly killing her in a DUI accident the year before, so he owes him. Big time. What neither of them knows is that a former mental patient is holding people prisoner as part of his growing collection of serial killer souvenirs. Now he has acquired the ultimate collector’s item—an actual killer.
Meanwhile, clues keep pulling Tate back to Grover Hills, the mental institution that closed down three years ago. Very bad things happened there. Those who managed to survive would prefer keeping their memories buried. Tate has no choice but to unearth Grover Hills’ dark past if there is any chance of finding Emma Green and Cooper Riley alive.
Christchurch is baking in an unrelenting heat wave and people are disappearing.
Cooper Riley, a psychology professor, doesn't make it to work one day. Emma Green, one of his students, doesn't make it home. When ex-cop Theodore Tate comes out of jail, he's begged by Emma's father to help find his daughter. After all, Tate was in jail for nearly killing Emma the year before, so Tate owes him. Big time. Tate has also been asked by his ex-colleague Detective Schroder to assist on a case currently frustrating the Christchurch police department – the search for a female killer called Melissa X. The further Tate looks, the more he keeps coming back to Grover Hills, the mental institution on the outskirts of the city that closed down three years ago. Something bad happened there over the years, down in the basement which the patients called The Scream Room. Tate is going to have to delve into Grover Hill's past if there is any chance of finding Emma Green and Cooper Riley alive. What Tate doesn’t bank on is that his two searches will coalesce in unexpected ways...