People are disappearing in Christchurch. Cooper Riley, a psychology professor, doesn't make it to work one day. Emma Green, one of his students, doesn't make it home. When ex-cop Theodore Tate is released from a six-month prison stint, he's asked by Green's father to help find Emma. After all, Tate was in jail for nearly killing her in a DUI accident the year before, so he owes him. Big time. What neither of them know is that a former mental patient is holding her captive as part of his growing collection of serial killer souvenirs. Now he has acquired the ultimate collector's item-an actual killer.

Meanwhile, clues keep pulling Tate back to Grover Hills, the mental institution that closed down three years ago. Very bad things happened there. Those who managed to survive would prefer keeping their memories buried. Tate has no choice but to unearth Grover Hills' dark past if there is any chance of finding Emma Green and Cooper Riley alive. For fans of Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island, Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs, and Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, Collecting Cooperis a dark, entertaining crime thriller from a glimmering new talent.