Marcus van der Heyden

Backyard Follies Marcus van der Heyden

Like many small-town folks, Malcolm Massicotte enjoys a quiet, down-to-earth life with his wife, Marisol, and their young twin girls. Still coping with the loss of a cherished pet cat, the last thing Malcolm ever expected was for a stray dog to wander into their life and quickly form an inseparable bond with the family, especially with his daughters.

Secretly already aware of the dog's nasty owner, Malcolm decides to keep the dog, which instigates a rancorous custody dispute. However, things suddenly go horribly awry when Malcolm and Marisol frantically discover that their daughters have disappeared and the dog has been severely injured, prompting state-police detectives of the Vermont Major Crimes Unit to investigate and launch a full-scale search, all while a separate ongoing incident just over the border has the area on heightened alert.

With pulse-hammering distress enveloping their once tranquil world, as the detectives try to make sense of baffling clues that trigger more questions than answers, the Massicottes face a daunting future devoid of the two people who matter most. Through it all, Malcolm desperately clings to the hope they're still alive somewhere, somehow, even as the odds dwindle and reality darkens beyond belief.