Tim Johnston Books in Order

During a summer with his mother's new family, Tex Donleavy discovers baseball and grows close to his stepsister Jack. A terrible family secret disrupts his newfound confidence, forcing him to reconsider loyalty, trust, and the adults around him.

These stories examine loss, absence, and the sudden arrival of misfortune in ordinary lives. Accidents and unsettling turns bring other people’s suffering close to home, revealing how chance can transform familiar communities and private relationships.

Caitlin Courtland disappears during a mountain outing on her family's Colorado vacation, while her younger brother returns alone. The search pulls her parents and brother in different directions, testing their bonds under uncertainty, guilt, and fear.

A winter journey home ends with two college friends submerged in an icy river and only Audrey surviving. Back in Minnesota, she investigates connections to an earlier death that still troubles the town and its families.

Two drifting young men take construction work in a Wisconsin town haunted by three boys’ long-ago disappearance. Their growing friendship and local connections attract a detective’s attention, setting events in motion that uncover buried truths through violence.