Ever since her father was killed in a home invasion, Julia "Jules" Farentino has been plagued by nightmares. Her half-sister, Shaylee, now seventeen, has had her own difficulties, earning a lengthy rap sheet. Still, when Jules learns of her mother's decision to send Shay to Blue Rock Academy, an elite boarding school in Oregon, Jules is skeptical. A student went missing a few months earlier and there are rumors she may have died during one of the school's questionable treatments.
On impulse, Jules applies for a teaching job at the Academy. Shortly before she arrives, a student is found hanged, another near death. Hysterical, Shay believes it's murder. Staff members are wary and unwelcoming--all except Cooper Trent, who has his own suspicions, his own secrets, and was once Jules's lover.
Then another girl is found dead. Something sinister is at hand--but Jules may be too late to stop it. Behind the Academy's idyllic veneer lurks an evil force on a brutal and terrifying mission. And Jules has become the next target of a bloodthirsty killer without limits, without remorse, without mercy . . .