The trip was against Quin St. James's better judgment. But for her, the camping expedition deep into the heart of the Florida Everglades was a kind of penance, a shot at reconciliation with her estranged husband and investigative partner Mike McCleary. And it wasn't as if they'd be stuck with each other. Along for the trek were their friends, Lydia and Beau Nichols.

But the Glades features an added attraction not found in the guidebooks. In a wilderness where nothing human is supposed to live dwells a band of modern savages. Twisted by decades of isolation, their blunt suspicion and blistering hatred is set to explode when one of their own has an unexpected confrontation with the visitors from civilization . . . .