Three days before Christmas.
He's waiting in the alley for the solitary child on her bicycle. He's anticipating snatching her in broad day light. Unbeknownst to him, David is following the love of his life, Sadie Green.
Sadie Green always take the same path every Saturday afternoon, enjoying the freedom on her bicycle. David, knowing he would ctach her on the other end of the path, doesn't follow her. But she doesn't come. He has no idea what's happened. He spots Sadie's bicycle hidden under the dead leaves and thinks she's just making it a litle horror game as per her usual. David knows where she's headed. The little boathouse on the lake.
Suddenly, he sees Gwen Hubble's darting down the path, entering the boathouse, never to come out. David hears a dog barking to death and he wonders what atrocities Sadie and Gwen are doing to the dog.Then the dog stops. David waits and waits until near darkness falls and can't wait any longer. He leaves without seeing the two little girls reappearing.

Rouge Kendall, police officer and the survival twin, happens to be at the right place and at the right time to take Sadie's bicycle back to the police station. The bicycle was found near a bus stop. Everybody's knows the two girls are missing. But the cops think they're just runaways. Only their mothers are frantic with worries. Rouge Kendall knows how they can feel since he lost his twin the same way, 20 years ago.
Ali Cray is called in as she's a specialist in the area of pedophiles. She knows everyone in town since she had lived there as a kid. She left just as Susan, Rouge's sister, disappeared, and nobody remember hers. She has this charisma around her and the men not noticing the ugly scar on her face only see the part of the leg that is always uncovered by those skirts with the slints.
She knows that the first kid, the Judas Child, is dead. She tells that to everyone and even though it is probably true, she tries to confort Sadie's mother.
At the same time, Gwen wakes up in a bathroom without any window, no entry, no exit. She knows the food is drugged, or it might be the water, but she needs to eat. She also notices that small items disappear with each time she fall asleep. She finally finds a way to escape and arrive in this room with the giant trees and is attacked by a dog when suddenly Saddie comes flying to her rescue.

That's it for the summary, folks. I let you in in too much but it was necessary!!!! That book is completely different from the Shell Game, since it's not part of the Mallory series. Different styles but the fate of these two kids take you bu the guts and you've got to know if they will survive it.
There are much more characters that I let on. So I didn't spoil it for you. It's very very good book, very complex and you don't know until then. That's what i call an excellent thriller!!!!

It's in paperback, so folks, you know what to do, buy it to keep it and if you can't buy, borrow it at the library and keep it for awhile. : ) ENJOY