AustLit

'Only the most determined, or the most damaged, will ever uncover secrets of the most evil…

'Alison White is crippled by grief after losing her only child, David to cancer. Unable to deal with the disabling grief, she feels isolated in her marriage, rejecting her husband Michael’s attempts to seek religious counselling. The situation deteriorates further when her job as a SOG officer is threatened after an operation she was responsible for goes wrong. Alison is sidelined, working cold cases until she clears a psychological assessment.

'Angry, isolated and fighting depression Alison throws herself into her work, discovering some of the disappearances have chilling similarities, missed in the initial investigation. She digs deeper and finds links to a strange group known only as ‘The Way to the Light’. Alison builds a tantalising picture of the group and its mysterious, charismatic leader, Adrian Lazar.

'Alison’s desperate need to know her son is safe and happy in the afterlife leads her to blur professional boundaries. Alison reaches her limit and is lured by Adrian Lazar into leaving her life to find the answers she desperately seeks.

'But as Alison quickly discovers, the group has a dark and deadly purpose at odds with its simple life and altruistic philosophy, and she’s already under suspicion.

'Men, women and children are chosen to ‘ascend to heaven’ by Adrian Lazar who claims to know the ‘correct’ time for his followers to die and join their loved ones in the bliss of heavenly life. However, Alison discovers Lazar’s real purpose. 

'Without knowing how to contact the outside world, where she is being held or how to escape the village, Alison must stop Lazar from murdering hundreds of people. But Lazar foils her attempts and sets his sights on her ‘ascension’.'