Some towns have secrets. Meadowvale has a monster.

For retired Scotland Yard Inspector Hugh Montgomery, the quiet New England town of Meadowvale was meant to be a refuge—a place to escape the ghosts of a failed case and the grief of losing his wife. But when a series of bizarre animal mutilations escalates into a gruesome human murder, Hugh recognizes a pattern he's seen before: a methodical violence that whispers of something more than a wild animal.

The terrified townspeople blame the "Ripper," a century-old legend that stalks Meadowvale's history, a creature said to return when progress clashes with tradition. As Hugh is reluctantly drawn into the investigation, he finds that the town's pristine facade conceals a rot of secrets, a generations-long feud between its founding families, and a conspiracy that uses the Ripper legend as a bloody mask.

With the help of a sharp local veterinarian and his own journalist niece, Hugh must navigate a labyrinth of lies where every clue seems deliberately placed and every ally is a potential suspect. The tracks in the mud don't belong to any known animal, and the true predator is far more intelligent—and ruthless—than any beast.

To stop the killings, Hugh must unearth a truth buried for over a hundred years. But in a town built on secrets, some monsters are best left undisturbed.