by Lori Roy
First published 2019
Beth watches a black truck rumble past her Simmonsville, Georgia home. A Klan flyer lands in her yard. Then the ten-year-old disappears. She survives by using skills learned while caring for her alcoholic mother. Seven years pass. Imogene Coulter buries her father, a Klan leader she has spent years avoiding. On the day of his funeral, she clears out his hideout and discovers a child locked in an abandoned basement. The door only secures from outside. Imogene realizes this connects to Beth's disappearance years earlier. Her father's chosen successor threatens Imogene and her family as she digs deeper. She fights to rescue a girl she never met but now feels bound to protect. The investigation forces Simmonsville to confront secrets the town has buried.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Georgia, Simmonsville
Period: 7 years, 10 years
581 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press Large Print
Content warnings: child-abuse, racism, violence