First published 2008
Kate Cypher comes back to rural Vermont at forty-one to care for her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's. The night she arrives, someone murders a young girl. The crime brings back memories of another killing from thirty years before. Kate's childhood friend Del, a poor girl the other kids called Potato Girl, was killed brutally when they were children. No one ever caught Del's murderer. Over the decades, Del became part of local ghost stories and legends. As police investigate the new murder, Kate gets pulled into the case. Her past starts connecting with the present in frightening ways. The two murders share disturbing similarities. Kate discovers that her memories of childhood events may not tell the complete story. The investigation forces her to confront what really happened to Del and examine the friendships and betrayals that shaped her youth.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: childhood-friends, past-coming-back-to-haunt, secrets-and-lies
Setting: Vermont
Period: 1980s, 2000s
256 pages · ebook · HarperCollins Publishers
Content warnings: death, murder, violence