The Silent Boy

(The second installment of Beneath the Deep, but it stands alone and is complete. Only a very small number of scenes touch on the previous story, and they won't affect your enjoyment, so read without worry.) (A social mystery focused on human nature, ethics, deduction, and solving crimes. Virtually no romance, and not a power fantasy.) In a remote mountain village, a horrifying family massacre erupts in the middle of the night. A raging fire claims several lives. The investigation points to a boy who fled the scene and already has a terrible reputation. Months later, the fugitive boy is finally apprehended, but he refuses to reveal a single detail. The police are caught in a bind. To uncover the truth behind the massacre and quell public outrage, they have no choice but to seek help from their superiors... Is he the sole witness, or the perpetrator hiding behind an innocent face? Reporter Sun Xin gets involved by chance. Determined to find the answer, she follows the case to the village where it happened, piecing together clues until she discovers that an old, unsolved case lies buried beneath it all. But just as the answer seems within reach, she realizes that things are far more complicated than they appeared. And when the dust finally settles, she regrets ever trying to uncover the truth behind the massacre... What drove the boy to a crossroads in life: a tangled old case, a childhood shadowed by discrimination, a broken and controversial family? Was it the hatred born of that old case, or was there something more behind it? If life were a videotape you could rewind and fast-forward at will, which part would you play for your audience? The truth is there from the very first page...