Paul Wood canÆt believe it. While hiking in the Himalayas he comes upon a fellow trekker, sitting against an abandoned Nepalese buildingùhis skull crushed, and for good measure, a pair of Swiss Army knives plunged into his eyes.But the real horror of this scene is that Paul has been here before. Laura, his girlfriend, dead on the beach in Cameroon, her eyes horribly mutilated.

In a debut novel that travels deep into the little known culture of young backpackers searching for their next hit of adventure, writer and world traveler Jon Evans has created a memorable twenty-something hero whose high-altitude smarts and high-tech Internet savvy propel him to solve a terrible crime.

An irresistible, action-packed read that begs for a sequelùand a movieùDark Places is the ideal summer travel destination: youÆll never want to leave.

JON EVANS grew up in Waterloo, Ontario, and is a graduate of the University of Waterloo. Taking breaks between jobs across North America and Europe, he has traveled the world, searching for the perfect setting for his fiction. Dark Places, his first novel, will be published by HarperCollins in the US, under the Dark Alley imprint, and Hodder in the UK.It has also been optioned by Gold Circle Filmsùbest known for the blockbuster hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Jon Evans lives in Toronto.