The 1 NYT bestselling authors Preston & Child bring the true story of the illfated Donner Party to new life in this thrilling novel of archaeology, history, murder, and suspense. Nora Kelly, a young curator at the Santa Fe Institute of Archaeology, is approached by historian Clive Benton with a onceinalifetime proposal to lead a team in search of the socalled Lost Camp of the tragic Donner Party. This was a group of pioneers who earned a terrible place in American history when they became snowbound in the California mountains in 1847, their fate unknown until the first skeletonized survivors stumbled out of the wilderness, raving about starvation, murderand cannibalism. Benton tells Kelly he has stumbled upon an amazing find the longsought diary of one of the victims, which has an enigmatic description of the Lost Camp. Nora agrees to lead an expedition to locate and excavate itto reveal its longburied secrets. Once in the mountains, however, they learn that discovering the camp is only the first step in a mounting journey of fear. For as they uncover old bones, they expose the real truth of what happened, one that is far more shocking and bizarre than mere cannibalism. And when those ancient horrors lead to presentday violence on a grand scale, rookie FBI agent Corrie Swanson is assigned the case...only to find that her first investigation might very well be her last.