Bitter River by Julia Keller

When sixteen-year-old Lucinda Trimble is found dead in the Bitter River, the town of Acker’s Gap is shaken to its core. Prosecutor Bell Elkins knows the girl — bright, full of promise — and can’t believe it was an accident. As she searches for answers, secrets buried deep within the mountain town begin to surface: betrayals, hidden lives, and the haunting scars of a community that has never truly healed.

While Bell struggles to hold her fractured world together, a new threat emerges, drawing her closer to a truth more dangerous than she imagined — one that could destroy what’s left of Acker’s Gap, and everything she loves.