Synopsis

“Endure” (Thriller) by Joseph O’Brien

Logline

After a shocking photo of a young woman is found inside the twisted metal of a fatal car crash in a dense Florida swamp, veteran detective Emory Lloyd must risk everything to identify and find the woman before it’s too late.

Synopsis

Veteran detective Emory Lloyd is called from the bedside of his ailing wife to the site of a gruesome traffic accident on a remote highway late at night. The fatal crash is one of 400 deaths resulting every year from deer strikes on Florida roadways. This one is different. Discovered inside the twisted metal of the car: a camera and Polaroid photograph of a young woman gagged and tied to a tree. The terror in her eyes says it all.

Assigned to help Lloyd unravel the identity and whereabouts of the woman is young detective, Zeth Arnold, a college-educated, smart-ass transplant from Nashville. Together, they will discover the base of evil that exists just below the surface of their beautiful city. That is, if they don’t kill each other first. As the mystery unfolds, both must put aside their differences and rely on the strengths of each other to locate the woman before it’s too late. Working their way through hidden identities and a labyrinth of computer forensics, the detectives uncover the secret life of the man killed in the collision and a startling revelation: they’re not the only ones looking for the woman.

As if the pressures of finding the woman aren’t enough, Lloyd must also deal with the failing health of his beloved wife, Sirena. She’s the one thing he’s counted on to make sense of the fallen world he lives in. Now, the clock ticks away the precious moments of her life as well as any chances of finding the missing woman alive. Lloyd must face his inability to control every aspect of his life, including the health of his own wife. He must learn to endure the hardships that make him uniquely human and trust in something larger than himself.

The investigation reaches a boiling point when the search for the woman culminates to a fevered footrace into the mire of wetlands that cover 560 thousand acres in central Florida. With no time to lose, the detectives close in on the location of the woman only to find they’re too late. The woman is gone, and they could never have been prepared for what they find.