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This twisty, puzzling, intense read is so rich with detail, characters, red-herrings, nuance and mystery that, if you are anything like this reader, you will quickly find yourself, moody and muttering, questioning every “fact” presented by every narrative witness, – willing yourself to settle down, put the pieces together, and figure it all out.
When Hope Miller (as she now will be known) is found, injured but alive, at the scene of a horrific traffic accident, all traces of her memory of a former life have vanished. As she begins to heal, Hopewell, New Jersey, her new home in a smallish town with a very large heart, is good to her – providing Hope with lodging, employment, caring neighbors and a fresh start that, best of all, includes a new friend, Lindsay Kelly, the young woman who rescued her from the car wreck, who has quickly become Hope’s rock and (somewhat obsessively so) closest supporter.
Without an identity, drivers license or legal source of income, after fifteen years in Hopewell, Hope makes a spontaneous decision to relocate to the Hamptons, NY – her goal, a new “normal”, and a stab at a broader and more independent existence.
And promptly vanishes, without a trace.
Reading easily as a standalone novel (this was my first by this author) this book is the fifth in the series featuring NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher.
A fast-paced, suspenseful read, the plot quickly extends from Lindsay’s search for this cherished missing-person-with-a-missing-identity, to a whole host of dangerous complications including a decades-old serial murderer, a detective’s never-resolved suicide, a newly dead fishing guide, confusing and incriminating forensics, an arrest-happy Hamptons cop, and ties to a long-ago cop-run summer camp for wayward teens that may or may be as ominous as it feels.
A compelling and serpentine read, I enjoyed this one, finding my head spin just a little, right up to the very devious and satisfying ending (only partially predicted by this, unruffled again, reader).
A great big thank you to @HarperCollinsCA #BooksofHCC for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
