by Lisa Unger
First published 2010
Maggie returned to The Hollows as an adult, trading her childhood frustration with small town scrutiny for the comfort of familiar faces and shared histories. She works as a psychologist, drawing on her deep knowledge of local families to help her patients. Her husband Jones serves as a detective. Their teenage son Rick dates a girl named Charlene. When Charlene disappears, Maggie's psychological insights make her valuable to the investigation. But the case creates strange tensions at home. Jones begins acting oddly. Rick withdraws further into himself. In a place where everyone knows everyone else's business, suspicion falls on unexpected people. Even Jones starts to question their own son. Maggie refuses to accept easy answers. She conducts her own investigation into what happened to Charlene. Her search uncovers secrets the town buried long ago. The truth she discovers threatens to destroy her marriage, her family, and everything she built by coming home to The Hollows.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: The Hollows
336 pages · Hardcover · Crown
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness