First published 2021
Wayland Maynard watches his father kill himself when he's just eight years old. He discovers a note that says "I am not who you think I am" and keeps it hidden, terrified of what it means. Eight years pass before Wayland makes a discovery that convinces him the note holds the key to secrets his mother and their town want buried. He enlists two friends to help him search for answers. They find strange messages in his father's books and uncover dark history involving the town's most powerful family. A bizarre tragedy connected to Wayland's birth emerges from their investigation. Each answer spawns new questions and makes Wayland doubt everyone around him. The deeper he digs, the more he wishes he had never found the note or trusted his friends. His search for truth becomes an obsession that threatens to destroy everything he thought he knew about his life and family.
Genres: suspense, mystery, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Town
Period: 8 Years
229 pages · Hardcover · Blackstone Publishing
Content warnings: death, suicide