"Death is bad, but pain is worse."
For a nameless private investigator who makes his living navigating the gray areas of the truth, the "unknown" is just another day at the office. He's seen a man ground into mincemeat by an indifferent machine and witnessed the brutal fallout of a kidnapping gone wrong. He knows that death isn't the ultimate terror-it's what happens when you're forced to endure the unbearable with no way out.
But his latest job is personal. Aria, an old flame, has arrived with a desperate plea: find her current boyfriend, who has vanished in the unsettling town of Arden.
Arden isn't like other places. It is a town out of time, a patchwork of architectural relics where the streets are empty and the atmosphere is thick with a "wall of hostility." As the PI digs into the town's secrets, he discovers a community preparing for a mysterious decennial "Festival" and whispers of the "Arden specialty"-a fate so gruesome it leaves victims unrecognizable.
In a town where "sacrifice" is the local currency and the walls seem to be folding in, the PI must navigate a web of cryptic locals and a looming sunset that promises to reveal the true meaning of the festival. He promised to get the boy out, but in Arden, keeping a promise might mean losing your skin.