The Woods

　　郡檢察官保羅．克普蘭的心裡有一片幽暗密林，他總是靠切割思緒讓那片林子留在暗處。不論在家中、在工作，他都盡力扮演好自己的角色。但是，那片密林卻不時侵擾他，令他深信再美好、靜遠的事，都可能在一瞬間破滅崩毀。

　　二十年前，保羅的妹妹卡蜜拉在森林裡遇害。那片林子原是一個充滿歡笑聲的夏令營地，但是在卡蜜拉與三名青少年二死二失蹤的案件發生後，林間只剩哭號、啜 泣與醞釀謠言傳說的風聲迴盪著。四個家庭都為之心碎，但保羅家破碎得更徹底。痛失愛女的父母關係惡化至冰點，母親離家出走、父親幾近發狂，常常帶著鏟子回到樹林，四處挖掘找尋。甚至父親臨終前，仍不忘囑咐保羅要繼續尋找妹妹。

　　保羅知道自己有責任，因為案發當晚他本該負責看守，卻沉醉在初戀的浪漫迷濛中。多年來，他無法面對那夜的傷痛與甜蜜，也從沒想過要跟初戀情人露西再見面。但意外的是，露西找上他，帶著一份細細描述那個夏夜森林諸多細節的匿名報告。更駭人的是，警方也找上門，同樣帶來舊事的新線索︰一具最近發現的屍體，很可能是保羅認識的故人──二十年前案件裡的失蹤者。

　　在此同時，保羅手中的一樁強暴官司──黑人脫衣舞孃遭出身名流的白人青年強暴，也正陷入苦戰中。身分地位種族印象的落差、辯護律師的猛烈砲火、被告親友 團的威逼利誘，無一不是保羅的難題，但是就在案件即將有轉機的時候，對方決心挖出保羅黑暗傷痛的過往來瓦解其信心與形象。

　　懸案、故人、舊友一個個出現、進襲保羅費心維護的平衡，真相即將如掩不住的腐臭翻湧而出。如今他終於明白──那一夜，我們沒有人能毫髮無傷走出森林。

　　本書中譯版《第43個祕密》由臉譜出版。

　　Twenty years ago, four teenagers at summer camp walked into the woods at night. Two were found murdered, and the others were never seen again. Four families had their lives changed forever. Now, two decades later, they are about to change again.

　　For Paul Copeland, the county prosecutor of Essex, New Jersey, mourning the loss of his sister has only recently begun to subside. Cope, as he is known, is now dealing with raising his six-year-old daughter as a single father after his wife has died of cancer. Balancing family life and a rapidly ascending career as a prosecutor distracts him from his past traumas, but only for so long. When a homicide victim is found with evidence linking him to Cope, the well-buried secrets of the prosecutor’s family are threatened.

　　Is this homicide victim one of the campers who disappeared with his sister? Could his sister be alive? Cope has to confront so much he left behind that summer twenty years ago: his first love, Lucy; his mother, who abandoned the family; and the secrets that his Russian parents might have been hiding even from their own children. Cope must decide what is better left hidden in the dark and what truths can be brought to the light.

作者簡介

哈蘭．科本　Harlan Coben

　　1962年生，新澤西州人，畢業於阿默斯特學院（Amherst College）政治學系，就學期間曾與《達文西密碼》的作者丹．布朗參加同一個兄弟會，兩人相互鼓勵啟發，友誼持續至今。

　　大學畢業後，科本先在家族經營的旅遊公司工作一段時日，才投入全職寫作。1995年出道的他，靠著備受好評「米隆．博利塔」（Myron Bolitar series）系列奪下安東尼獎、愛倫坡獎和夏姆斯獎三項推理大獎，成為迄今唯一獨攬三大獎的作家。近期，科本的非系列作品更是受到讀者與書評人的高度期待，而不出意料的也往往是一出版就空降各大暢銷榜第一名，因此評家也預測他即將成為愛倫坡大師獎的下一位得主。

　　科本的故事常常由幾個壞消息為開端，但往後卻發展成打開衣櫥看見骷髏頭等級的謎團。科本曾在訪問中表示︰「我喜歡讓故事像是尾隨在人身後，在結尾時從後面猛一拍，讓人恍然大悟、悵惘不已。」驚奇、曲折、機巧的對話、鮮活生猛的人物塑造，已成科本的特徵，他的讀者甘於享受他文字所帶來的緊張、戰慄，並在峰迴路轉間探尋真相。

　　作者官網 www.harlancoben.com