THE BEAUTIFUL RISK

Lost in grief, a widow has only herself to trust as she searches for her missing dog as a last connection to her husband while she seeks the truth about his death.

Junie Lagarde’s husband, Olivier, was an in-demand safety consultant. Ever since his Cessna 172 went down during an assessment of the tunnel system around Mont Blanc, in the French Alps, Junie has had a hard time engaging with the world around her without a link to her lost love. She knows a connection is out there because Junie and Olivier’s beloved dog, Leo, survived the crash and stayed by Olivier’s side until his death. Determined to find Leo, Junie repeatedly returns to Chamonix to search for him, and the small town’s residents become familiar with the American who’s looking for her vulpine dog. After nine long months of waiting, Junie gets a call from Capitaine Philippe Brevard, who’s leading the investigation into the crash. He lets her know there’s been a sighting of Leo—and that the dog is not alone. Brevard shares a video of a strange man walking Leo, a man clad in Olivier’s distinctive coat. When Junie finally meets this man, she’s confused, disgusted, alarmed, and afraid, but she has no doubt that this man’s pose as Olivier is dangerous and that there’s more to her husband’s death than she knew. Was Olivier’s death a murderous act of eco-terrorism, or did it stem from more personal motives? Junie has Brevard’s support in seeking the truth and rescuing Leo from his captor. But the search for Leo and the details surrounding Olivier’s death lead her to question everyone around her, leaving her dependent on her own intuition to lead her to answers.

Dark and swiftly moving, both a thriller and an examination of how deep a connection can be.