When troubled true-crime writer William Jacobs' fiancée Angel Withers disappears from the small rural town of Paradise, Ohio, leaving behind only a letter, his indifference sparks suspicion in the eyes of the people closest to him. As Will enters into an affair with a married woman named Katherine, his brother Jack begins investigating the disappearance of Angel alongside Katherine's sister, Detective Samantha Nash. Their investigation, and Will and Katherine's love affair, uncover a chain of dark and traumatic secrets that spiral into a vortex of violence as the truth is revealed to be more complex than any of them could have known.
Paradise is a mystery laden crime thriller with heavy emphasis on romance that investigates the effects of generations of violence and trauma and the nature of goodness and sin, as four people continually fail to do good in a world that only seems to allow for evil.