City of the Lost
| Company type | Novel |
|---|---|
| Industry | Literature |
| Founded | May 2016 |
| Founder | Kelley Armstrong |
| Products | Crime fiction novel |
City of the Lost is a crime fiction novel released in 2016 by Kelley Armstrong. It follows homicide detective Casey Duncan as she navigates Rockton, a secluded and off-the-grid settlement in the Canadian Yukon, notorious for unexplained disappearances. After relocating there with her friend Diana, Casey delves into a string of murders occurring within the community. The book was first published in May 2016.
In June 2018, television rights for the Rockton series, starting with City of the Lost, were secured by Temple Street Productions.
Plot summary
At eighteen, Casey Duncan enrolls in police college despite her parents’ objections. She dates Blaine Saratori, a minor drug dealer who claims connections to organized crime. During a gang altercation, Blaine abandons her, and she suffers an assault believed to be rape. Awakening from a coma weeks later, Casey shoots Blaine in retaliation and anonymously informs authorities about her attackers, avoiding any legal repercussions.
Twelve years later, Casey works as a detective in the Special Victims Unit. Following her parents’ fatal plane crash, she copes through therapy and risky behavior patterns. Her close friend Diana has escaped an abusive marriage and now lives separately; Casey maintains a casual relationship with Kurt, an ex-con bartender. When Diana is assaulted by her ex-husband Graham, Casey uses his criminal past to deter him. Diana then reveals awareness of Rockton—a secretive Yukon town where people vanish. Initially doubtful, Casey becomes convinced after escalating threats connected to Blaine’s mob family.
After Kurt is attacked by men claiming to represent Blaine’s grandfather Leo Saratori and Diana suffers another assault, they apply to Rockton's rigorous admission process. There they meet Val and Eric Dalton—the town’s sheriff—who insists on Casey’s cooperation as a detective but remains wary due to her killing of Blaine. They agree that Casey will stay six months if Diana is accepted.
Upon arrival in Rockton, all cell phones are collected and outside communication is prohibited. Casey encounters key locals: Sheriff Dalton’s deputy Will Anders, town physician Beth Lowry, and Isabel, who runs the local bar. A locally manufactured drug called rydex is widely abused; Dalton suspects chemist Hastings of enhancing its addictive qualities. The discovery of Henry Powys’s mutilated corpse signals danger lurking within the community.
Diana flourishes socially amid the predominantly male population where sexual assaults are frequent. When Hastings vanishes after entering the forest, Casey and deputies search but uncover only a skull nailed to a tree, heightening suspicions about Rockton’s sinister secrets.
Characters
- Casey Duncan/Butler narrates the story. Daughter of a cardiologist and pediatric surgery chief, she has an older sister who is a neuroscientist. Casey became friends with Diana during high school; despite Diana’s repeated departures, their friendship endures. After surviving an attack that forced her to leave police academy training, Casey earned a criminology degree, holds a blackbelt in aikido, and won a flyweight boxing championship. Within five years post-attack, she was progressing toward becoming a detective. Possessing an IQ near 135, she resembles her half-Chinese, half-Filipino mother.
- Eric Dalton serves as Rockton's sheriff and initially treats Casey with suspicion, doubting both her and Diana as potential Council informants. Over time he becomes protective of them and keeps records on residents he suspects are undercover agents. Raised in Rockton as its only child, he possesses a strong moral compass. Dalton fears expulsion by the Council but contemplates founding a new settlement if forced out—Casey estimates at least fifty residents would follow him, including essential personnel. He later discloses he was abducted as a child by the Daltons family and develops a romantic relationship with Casey.
- Will Anders/Calvin James acts as Dalton's deputy. He fled to Rockton after killing his commanding officer at his sister’s urging. Will is tall and muscular with an Army tattoo.
- Diana Berry has been Casey's closest friend since high school.
- Elizabeth "Beth" Lowry is Rockton's medical doctor. A Harvard-trained surgeon who fled after being blamed for patient deaths linked to amphetamine use—hospital records were falsified against her—both her parents were detectives. Beth possesses photographic memory and was close to Abbygail Kemp before Abby’s death; she cared for Abby during withdrawal and worked alongside her at the clinic. Beth is revealed as responsible for killing Hastings, Powys, and Irene as revenge for Abby's death with Mick’s assistance before killing Mick himself when he expressed doubts about their actions. She harbors feelings for Dalton and attempts to frame Diana to remove Casey from Rockton. Ultimately expelled by the Council, Beth is in her late thirties with chestnut hair.
- Isabel Radcliffe owns Rockton's brothel called the Roc and is a former psychologist. In her early forties with dark hair streaked with silver, Isabel initially seeks an alliance with Casey to safeguard the Roc but grows genuinely interested in her after Mick’s murder. She provides Casey with critical information about residents under false pretenses and helps ease tensions between Casey and Dalton by inviting them for drinks.
- Mick was Isabel’s lover and bartender at the Roc. A burly former Vancouver police officer who retaliated against drug gang killers, he dated Abbygail Kemp before her murder and cared deeply for her. His love for Abby motivates his involvement in killing Hastings, Powys, and Irene. Beth kills him after he questions their brutal methods and frames Diana for his death.
- Abbygail Kemp
- Jerome Hastings
- Harry Powys
- Irene Prosser escaped an abusive husband by moving to Rockton but lured Abbygail into the woods where Hastings raped and murdered her. While sedated during dental treatment, she confesses to Beth who kills her and stages it as suicide—though Dalton suspects foul play due to severe wrist wounds indicating mutilation. Beth fabricates X-rays showing Irene was abused to mislead Casey into suspecting a vigilante targeting residents living under false identities.