Slickrock — Laura Crum

Equine veterinarian Gail McCarthy is up for the challenge of a lifetime: two weeks alone deep within the winding trails of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Needing a break from the stress of everyday life and a somewhat trying long-distance relationship. Gail is eager to depart on a solitary pack trip with only two horses and her faithful new puppy for company.

The night before Gail is to leave, she stumbles across a wounded man lying in an open meadow next to a gun. He has apparently tried to kill himself, and despite the immediate help that Gail gets, he sadly succeeds. But not before he mumbles several enigmatic words, leaving Gail to wonder if this might have been more than a simple suicide.

Unwilling to let anything get in the way of her long-planned trip and unable to do anything about the man's death, Gail sets off. But it isn't long before she becomes aware of an eerie lurking presence following closely in her footsteps, threatening to close in and make Gail his next victim. It will take all of Gail's strength to survive the trip, and all of her intelligence to figure out who her stalker is and how he might be related to the dead man.