Born with the uncanny ability to find lost things by taking a “shorter way” on her motorcycle, Vic McQueen grows into a woman whose talent puts her on a collision course with Charlie Manx, an ageless, predatory figure who lures children into a bright, murderous otherworld called Christmasland; the novel follows Vic’s desperate, decades-spanning fight—joined by a handful of allies—to rescue the missing children, confront buried trauma, and stop Manx’s hollow promise of eternal childhood, while exploring grief, addiction, and the cost of nostalgia.