On the fifth anniversary of his wife's death, birthday balloons snag Slater Watts 15th-story office window, freed when a killer knifes a mother in an alley. Watts can't save her, and a woman dies in his arms yet again on July 2. Watts, a journalist, who's sick of Atlanta, crime, his job, and memories of his wife's death, sees the balloons as a wake-up call and decides to quit his job. But his editor gives him the most exciting assignment he's ever had, literally changing his life. Go to lawless, wild Forbidden Island off the Georgia-South Carolina coast and profile a murderous voodoo priest who rules the island like a god. Watts sees the assignment as a chance to get the voodoo priest to break his dying daughter's coma. Watts meets Tyler Hill, a woman with dark secrets who believes her runaway daughter lives on Forbidden Island. Hill convinces Watts to take her to the island. Watts and Hill make a horrifying discovery that threatens everything and redemption or destruction for all, even the island. -- from publisher description.
