Starts out reasonably enough. The author's background in forensic anthropology is her strong suit as a writer. I'd read two of her books set in Canada and they were good enough. This is really two stories mashed together. Although I don't live in Bryson City, NC or the Smokey Mountains, I find her depictions of the locals very offensive. She literally compares locals to rednecks out of Deliverance and says they have the IQ's of wooly worms. She may be brilliant in forensic medicine, but her flora and fauna are sometimes off. Proofreaders where are you? Water Moccasin snakes are not found at Chimney Rock or the western mountains of NC and some greenery mentioned is not likely to be found in the Smokey Mountains. It's her depictions of locals that is really off though.

Cogent! Complex but not impenetrable.