Winner of the prestigious Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction， Alice Blanchard makes her electrifying debut as a novelist with this gripping tale of suspense that dares to stare unblinkingly into the darkest recesses of the human heart.The dead girl lay faceup on the edge of the pond， a snake coiled in the muddy hollow of one arm. For Police Chief Nalen Storrow， it was a shocking reminder of the violence he thought he d left behind when he moved his wife and children to Flowering Dogwood， Maine， a town where no one locks their doors. And now Storrow s search for the truth leads to a chilling possibility...the murderer might be his own son， Billy.Eighteen years later the murder of the girl in the pond has never been solved. Now a different cop is obsessed with the case--Rachel Storrow， Billy s grown sister. But no sooner does Rachel reopen the investigation than another young woman disappears. Once again Billy is a suspect， though far from the only suspect in town. The harder Rachel peers behind Flowering Dogwood s picture-perfect facade--at the center of which is the respected Winfield School for the Blind and Special Needs--the more the mystery deepens.A cunning psychopath is moving undetected through Rachel s hometown， taking her on a journey of suspicion， doubt， and bone-deep fear. Plunged into a world where darkness follows even the innocent， Rachel must unearth secrets that span decades and face a staggering personal truth.Darkness Peering is more than a harrowing suspense novel of the first rank. It is a powerful portrait of a woman who， like her father， must walk the tightrope between honor and justice， and in doing so tests her own humanity.