When a group of campers vanishes near Caldera Lake, Army Ranger-turned-park ranger, Riker Holt, is sent to investigate. What he finds defies reason: mutilated remains, strange symbols carved into the trees, and the echo of something massive moving through the fog. Joined by his sharp-witted partner, Tex Briggs, and wildlife biologist Dr. Emily Carter, Riker uncovers a link between the killings and an old Cherokee legend, Tsul’Kalu, The Sloping One, a guardian spirit said to walk when the forest’s balance is broken. As the mist thickens and communication cuts off, the team realizes they’re being hunted. Science can’t explain what they’ve found, and bullets won’t stop it. To survive, Riker must face not only the creature in the woods but the ghosts that followed him home from war.
 
 
Tense, visceral, and steeped in Appalachian myth, The Black Pines is a gripping supernatural thriller where the line between legend and nightmare blurs, and the forest always claims what it’s owed.