First published 2003
Detective Kathleen Mallory stares at a corpse that drags her back twenty-one years. The dead call girl once protected Mallory during her brutal childhood on New York's streets. The same woman also betrayed her. The murder scene mirrors another killing from Mallory's past. A victim hangs with hair stuffed in her mouth while flames consume the evidence. Mallory was just a child when she witnessed the first crime. Now the pattern has returned. Either a copycat killer studies old case files or the original murderer walks free. Mallory must confront the shadows of her street life. Her carefully buried past refuses to stay dead. The detective who built her career on cold logic faces crimes that burn with personal fury.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York
Period: 21 Years Ago
397 pages · Paperback · Piemme
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, violence