Belie

It's a crucial test for Commander Sean Colbeth and his Major Crimes unit when the unthinkable happens.

Pizzeria Angelina was one of the few things time seemed to have spared in the downtrodden community of East Newberry: a familiar presence along the banks of the Penobscot river since opening its red-and-white checkered doors in 1965, it had for decades served as a cultural touchstone to the ever-diminishing population of the former mill town. Now just as tired and worn out as the community it serves, the cherished institution draws unwanted attention when a masked gunman mows down two dozen patrons with a semiautomatic on a random weeknight before disappearing into thin air.

With all hands on deck to locate the shooter, Commander Sean Colbeth of the Maine State Police sifts through the carnage of the senseless massacre and uncovers a startling theory on just what took place the evening of the shooting - a theory that surfaces unpleasant secrets the tight-knit community would rather have kept submerged deep in the murky depths of the Penobscot.

Separating fact from fiction is something Sean is unusually adept at, but unexpected developments in an off-the-books personal investigation begin to interfere with his moral compass, putting him into an ethical gray area that threatens to derail both his career and, perhaps more importantly, his resuscitated relationship with Dr. Suzanne Kellerman. Combined with the added pressure of working a high-stakes case under the watchful eyes of politicians in Augusta, finding his way back to the man he knows he should be - needs to be - proves to be every bit as challenging as locating a killer capable of hiding in plain sight.