Edgar award-winning drama about a boy who is determined to find his missing sister, a cop who is also so determined to find the girl that he neglects his own troubled son, some degenerate pedophiles, a biblical simple-minded black man carrying a box who hears the voice of God, and a college teacher who tells the boy he found her right before he dies. I can see why this author is popular - he can tell a compelling story - but there's something about his writing style that doesn't work for me. It has that spiritual-historical-emotional feverishness that you find in James Lee Burke's writing, and so much is described that I end up feeling as if there's not much room between the lines for me as a reader to make a contribution. But that's just me.