First published 2026
Kate enters a marriage of protection, not love. She weds Max to shield his sixteen-year-old daughter Holly from his public charm and private cruelty. For a full year, Kate maintains her facade while secretly planning their escape. The plan reaches its final days when Holly kills Max. Kate stashes the body in their garage freezer and focuses on disposal logistics. Then Holly crashes a borrowed car into their new neighbor Teri, injuring her ankle. Kate cannot turn away an injured woman without raising suspicions, so Teri moves into their spare room. Teri shows no signs of leaving. She bombards Kate with questions about Max's whereabouts. Her relentless friendliness feels calculated. Kate begins to suspect the car accident was deliberate. The corpse in her freezer becomes a secondary concern. Her real problem walks on two legs and sleeps down the hall.
Genres: domestic-fiction, mystery, crime, adult-fiction, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: claustrophobic, dark, menacing, paranoid, suspenseful, twisted
Tropes: dark-secrets, forced-proximity, gaslighting, unreliable-narrator
282 pages · Paperback · Furphies Press
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, domestic-violence, murder