Sara Winthrop

Two years ago, Sara's husband left for the gym one morning...and never came back. His car was found. He wasn't. Unbelievably, the police report said, "no foul play suspected." There were a few sightings over the following months, but little else. Now, on the last day before summer break, her three children have gone missing from their schools, all at the same time. And the note under her windshield wiper asks one foreboding question: Are you ready to play the game?

This is no game. Eighteen months after Sara's terrifying encounter with a demented kidnapper, life has finally returned to normal. Almost. Her memories of the game still haunt her dreams, and every day society appears to go a little bit crazier. Around the world, from London to Rio to Moscow, a small terrorist group known as The Clan eliminates targets one by one. Are they really connected in some way, as the media claims, or is it simply coincidence? All Sara wants is to live a safe, quiet life with her children. On a damp, fall morning, however, she receives chilling news from Detective Emerson Barker that's both alarming and unthinkable, plunging her weary family headlong into another desperate fight for survival: "You're the next target."

Bolstered by a newfound fortune, Sara Winthrop is finally able to escape the horrific nature of her past. She's moved her family three thousand miles, from the bustling city of Portland to the rolling Appalachians of southwest Virginia. Life is calm, the children are thriving, and she's protected inside her rural fortress. Or so she thinks. She soon discovers that the answers are never so easy. The illusion of security doesn't stand a chance against two dangerous enemies with money, motivation, and an unquenchable desire for revenge. Aided by the help of new friends and forced to the edge of extremes, Sara must find a way to win at all costs, or die trying.