In April 2006, fifteen-year-old Oliver vanished without a trace while hiking on Burning Mountain. His schoolfriends Bob, Bell, Phil and Paul were the last people to see him alive, yet the teenagers were never able to explain his disappearance. Nearly twenty years later, Detective Giles is called to nearby Mount Wingen, where a skull has been unearthed, reviving the long-standing mystery that has haunted the Upper Hunter for years.

Giles believes they have finally found Oliver and suspects his four friends, now in their mid-thirties, have always known more than they first admitted, particularly about the argument that caused Oliver to head down the mountain alone. However, when discussing the case with her retired Superintendent father, another suspect emerges, one uncomfortably close to home.

Authentic, intelligently plotted and full of heart, Burning Mountain explores the lengths we go to in order to protect those we love and the way our upbringing and the actions of our past selves shape the people we become.