For fourteen years, Mike Doogan covered Alaska like no other journalist. He exposed the power plays of the elite and sought justice for the exploited. In that time, he came to know both the beauty and the treachery that are at the core of the state. With Lost Angel, his first novel, he exposes the dark heart of humanity.

The Christian community of Rejoice is a beacon of stability in the icy interior of Alaska . Elder Moses Wright led a small group of followers to this unlikeliest of spots, and for the last four decades they have struggled to carve a life out of an unforgiving wilderness. It wasn't easy, and they've lost people along the way. Now the disappearance of faith Wright, Moses' luminous Granddaughter, is a new experience for them. In the past, members have died of injuries or natural causes. Some have even given up the struggle and walked away. But no one has just disappeared before. What could have caused the high school honor student to vanish? Is her disappearance connected with her decision to spend more time away from home, in “the world”? Or does it haves it have something to do with Devil's Toe, the seedy roadhouse that has been Rejoice's squalid counterpart?

One thing the Elders of Rejoice agree on: This a problem they can't handle themselves. It's time to turn to the outside for answers.

Nik Kane, decorated former detective in the Anchorage PD, is brought in to find Faith Nik has his own secrets. His life has been in freefall ever since the winter night seven years ago when he shot a suspect, only to have witness step forward saying that Nik had used deadly force on an unarmed victim. Nik's years in prison have cost him his family and his career. All he has left is his soul, and this case in Rejoice could cost him that as well.

The search for faith can take men down dangerous, unknown paths. It's about to take Nik Kane on a journey into the darkest parts of a perilous world and bring him face to face with horrors better left unimagined.

 

Mike Doogan is a third-generation Alaskan who lives in Anchorage with his wife, Kathy. He was a journalist for thirty years, the last fourteen as a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, where he shared in the 1989 Pulitzer Prize. His first mystery story, “ War Can Be Murder,” won the 2003 Robert L. fish Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Lost Angel is his first mystery novel.