Can violence and its legacy ever be absolved? The dark and thrilling new Leslie Stone novel from Karen Novak.

Download the reading guide to The Wilderness here
When the body of an elderly man is found naked, frozen to death on the grounds of an abandoned petting zoo near where private investigator Leslie Stone lives with her family, the discovery triggers what Leslie calls the "haunted amusement park" of her mind. Voices and apparitions she knows to be hallucinatory disrupt her waking world. And she is unable to forget that the old man has left behind what seems like a riddle to be solved: an odd drawing and a children's poem with a shifting meaning, titled "The Wilderness."
Compelled to find out what happened, Leslie finds her search interlacing with that of investigative journalist Sophia Mallory, who is tracing her personal path through the historical tragedy of slavery and its aftermath. Together they uncover a pattern of institutionalized violence so brutal, so inexplicable, that it resembles a curse. As "The Wilderness" leads each woman deeper into the past, it also leads them deeper into their own psyches, forcing them to question their motives for solving a mystery which threatens to destroy the lives of everyone they love.
Karen Novak is the author of two other Leslie Stone novels, File Mile House and Innocence, as well as Ordinary Monsters. She lives in Mason, Ohio.
Praise for Innocence: "A smart, realistic tale of female identity and deception."-Time Out New York "A tantalizing page-turner."-Cincinnati CityBeat "This will surely be touted as a suspense novel, and suspenseful it is. But this elegantly written and intricately plotted work transcends genre…Like the author's two earlier novels, this frightening and mesmerizing book deserves a wide readership."-Library Journal "This intelligent thriller rises above the usual…Its tragic beauty may have you seeing ghosts yourself. This extraordinary and wonderful novel comes highly recommended to those who seek substance with their mystery."-New Mystery Reader