First published 1997
Thomas Black meets Lainie Smith and sees a saint with deep pockets. She climbed from poverty to wealth and now pours money into helping Seattle's forgotten children. But someone from her past wants payment for silence. As a teenager, Lainie ran wild with a drifter named Charlie near the treacherous waters of Deception Pass. She witnessed something terrible in those cliff shadows, something that sent Charlie to the electric chair years later. Now her blackmailer claims to know secrets that should be impossible to uncover. Lainie won't explain what those secrets are or why they terrify her so completely. She tells Black only that this person "knows things he couldn't possibly know." Black must navigate between his client's saintly public face and the darkness she's desperate to keep buried. The investigation pulls him toward the turbulent waters of Deception Pass, where past and present collide with deadly force.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Deception Pass, Seattle
246 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books