It's been almost a year since Dad went to the store for roofing supplies and never came back. One day the fun loving zoologist was joking that he saw a supposedly mythical chupacabra in the back yard, the next day, he was gone. For Marsha, a camping trip to the remote desert mountain known as "Thieves Peak" with her younger brother and their out of town cousin could be the perfect summer distraction from the inexplicable paternal abandonment. Cousin Philo hopes to find the gold bars that the locals say wild west bandits have hidden in the rugged foothills, but Shawn just wants to scare the dickens out of the city dude with some wild campfire tales of blood sucking monsters.When a sinkhole opens beneath their feet, the three teens are swallowed into the midst of a colony of odd mutant creatures, and may turn out to be unwitting snacks for a pair of real life chupacabras that are loose in the old mining tunnels. Could it be that the sudden and mysterious disappearance of Shawn and Marsha's father actually had something to do with all of this?This sci-fi adventure for YA audiences is laced with smart facts, strange fantasies and wild conspiracy theories about the natural environment and nuclear history of high desert New Mexico.