Why a Booktrail?
2026: How far would you go to find your missing child?
The Grapevine
What you need to know before your trail
Lou Gomersall’s going as far as it takes. And there’s no turning back.
When her nineteen-year-old daughter Abby disappears, Lou embarks on a reckless road trip in the family RV, scouring the highways and back roads of California. Through desert and mountains, into the woods, and to the ocean’s edge.
A year later, the police don’t believe Lou’s theory that four other missing young women have been taken by the same elusive predator. So, when another college sophomore vanishes, Lou jumps on the fresh trail, enlisting millennial #vanlifers, Gen Z entrepreneurs, boomer RVers, homeless sages, truck stop prostitutes and everyone in between in her do-or-die mission to rescue Abby …
Or kill the man who took her.
Locations
Reset- America/ USA - California
- A: Tejon Pass - Grapevine Inn
- B: Lake Shasta
- C: Lodi - train station
- D: The Devil's Slide
- E: Berkeley - University of California
- F: Salinas - The Steinbeck House
- G: Death Valley - Badwater Basin
- H: San Luis Obispo - Higuera St/Downtown SLO Farmers' Market
- I: Bakersfield - Train station
Travel Guide
The Robertson and Sokoloff trail
So where does the trail and Lady Luck take her? Without giving too much away and in no particular order…
Berkeley: On the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, it was a hotbed of free speech and revolution in the 60s. It’s home to the University of California and remains a progressive haven.
Salinas: Birthplace of John Steinbeck and the most populous city in Monterey County, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s a lovely place – we just happen to concentrate on some of its less salubrious parts.
Badwater Basin: One of the most incredible places on earth. This site in Death Valley is the lowest place in North America with a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. Its wondrous hexagonal salt crust is otherworldly.
San Luis Obispo: On the central coast, SLO is home to an 18th century Spanish mission; to Bubblegum Alley; the bars and restaurants of Higuera Street; and the downtown Farmer’s Market. It’s where the search for Monica Serrano is centred.
Bakersfield: In the San Joaquin Valley, north of Los Angeles, it’s a heavy-hitting powerhouse for oil and agriculture, home to the Bakersfield Sound and known as the Oil Capital of California.
There are also side trips and diversions, stopovers and drive-throughs to odd little places that I’m wary of mentioning in case they lead to spoilers. It’s a Californian’s guide to California with an outsider’s perspective thrown in. If you think it’s all Santa Monica, San Francisco or Disneyland, think again. To paraphrase the Beach Boys, we get around.
Trail Gallery
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Grapevine
Destination/Location: California Author: Craig Robertson and Alexandra Sokoloff Departure: 2026
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