The Clearing by Dani Ripley

Imagine dying in a mass shooting, only to wake up on the other side right next to the person who put you there… When Alice Wheaton meets her untimely end in a mass shooting along with five other strangers, she's shocked to awaken moments later in a beautiful meadow surrounded by a lush green forest. One by one, the other victims wake nearby, and as they gather, they're horrified to discover one of them is the very teenaged killer who put them there in the first place. And worse—they must now agree to engage in a quest together in order to wrap up the loose ends of their lives. Former cop and FBI profiler Roz Cooper is hired to consult on the case that's stunned the residents of Crescent Moon Bay along with the entire country. Digging into the killer's history, Roz uncovers an even older mystery of a woman gone missing nearly a decade before, and it soon becomes clear that her disappearance is deeply intertwined with both the shooter and the shooting. Even though it's not what she was hired for, Roz finds herself drawn to uncovering answers about the missing woman—to the point of dangerous obsession. Will she risk everything she loves in order to solve the mystery of what really happened to Inez Blackbird White? And how it all relates to Inez's teenage son murdering six innocent people eight years later?

Adult • Contemporary Fiction • Horror/Supernatural and Occult • Fantasy/Magical Realism • Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense/Supernatural and Paranormal

Content Warning: See daniripley.com for content warnings and subject matter details.