Hidden Nature

These first chapters provide the dramatic framework for the rest of the novel, establishing the world of the story, its central characters, and the plot movement. The setting is Heron’s Rest, a fictional town located in the Allegheny Mountains, a range within the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. The Alleghenies run from central Pennsylvania through western Maryland into central West Virginia. The scenic setting plays several roles: It serves to draw Nash to the area, provides scope for the business that the Coopers run, and provides the territory that Sloan polices as part of her work as a Natural Resources police officer. The seasons of the area offer a timeline for the story as well as becoming a motif that reflects the changes in Sloan’s own physical and emotional states.

Sloan is depicted as athletic and tough, with a strong physique and a resilient mindset. The initial exposition, set within the truck, shows Sloan in her everyday life, capable and efficient, thereby introducing the key theme of The Joys of a Calling. Apprehending the three men who were harming hikers shows that Sloan is good at her job, fearless, determined, and willing to take risks. The shooting at the mini-mart is randomly motivated and entirely accidental, but the violent episode is the catalyst for the plot and the inciting incident for all the action to follow, forcing Sloan to temporarily step aside from her usual work.

Sloan’s out-of-body experience is key for her character arc because it provides a challenge to her identity and sets her on a slow recuperation that causes her to re-evaluate how she lives her life, introducing the theme of The Rewards of Rebuilding and Renewal. The episode gains further importance once the killers, Clara and Sam, are introduced and their mission is defined. Their intention is to “correct” the artificial resuscitation of the “resurrected” by killing them again, as illustrated in the scenes with Janet Anderson. Their crimes, coupled with Sloan’s own near-death experience, introduce narrative tension not only by making them antagonists, but by also suggesting that Sloan could be one of their targets.

The terms used to describe Sloan’s out-of-body experience are common to real-life reports, including the soft white light, the sense of floating above her body and observing what is going on below, and the sense of detachment from pain. For Sloan, it is the reminder of her own identity as a fighter that sends her back to her body. Her experience is presented as a choice Sloan makes: She can choose to let go, or she can choose to return to her body, her human world, and the consequences of her injury. She chooses what she regards as the tougher path—underlined by her later observation that dying is easier than living with a significant injury—which reflects Sloan’s determination.

Sloan’s determination to recover quickly speaks to her character’s grit. Sloan is practical but also pushes herself, showing a blend of vulnerability, persistence, and strength. Her appetite and physical weakness are signals of the fragile state she in when she starts logging the days of her recovery, but she likes to see a sense of overall progress on the spreadsheet. The return to her family home in Heron’s Rest also touches on the significance of home as a source of healing and its potential to be a nurturing and regenerative place, as suggested by the “Rest” in the locale’s name, which implies the restorative effects of the natural setting.

Both Sloan and Nash also illustrate the theme of Finding Strength in Family Bonds in these opening chapters. The Thanksgiving holiday affords an opportunity for Sloan to more deeply integrate into her family and emphasizes the sense of gratitude she feels at having their support. Meanwhile, the Littlefield brothers are also looking for ways to rebuild and draw closer together. While Sloan enjoys a close bond with her family members, Nash and Theo regard each other as their only true family members, as both brothers feel alienated from their strict parents. Nash’s wish to live in a place that feels nourishing and to pursue work with Theo that feels fulfilling and valuable to him echoes Sloan’s character goals, which are to recover and enjoy the life she’s been granted.

The introduction of Clara and Sam and their mission forms an immediate contrast to Sloan and Nash’s focus on second chances and healthy family bonds, as Clara and Sam clearly serve as the antagonistic force. Paradoxically, their involvement in the medical profession allows them to be efficient in the way they abduct and then murder their victims. Clara’s sense of a calling provides a counterpart to the satisfaction Sloan takes in her job, establishing the two women as foils. Sloan’s interest in Janet Anderson’s disappearance provides the motive for the investigation that will bring these two plotlines together, illustrating the very different ways they each pursue their ideal of justice.