The Final Episode

by Lori Roy

First published 2025

Jennifer Jones returns to Big Cypress Swamp each summer with her best friends. At almost eleven, she expects this summer to bring the family gift of second sight. Instead, tragedy strikes when little Francie Farrow disappears without a trace. Jennifer's father Paul gets convicted and sent to prison for the crime. Two decades pass. Jennifer has built a new life away from the shadow of being Paul Jones's daughter. Then the true crime series "Inspired by True Events" announces they will investigate that summer from her childhood. The show promises to solve cold cases that stumped police. As episodes air, Jennifer watches her past unfold on television. The series digs into evidence from twenty years ago. Someone else is watching too, and they want Jennifer to remember things she has tried to forget. The show moves toward its final episode and its conclusions about Francie Farrow's fate. Jennifer must decide what she believes about her father's guilt and face the truth about her own family.

Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, family-drama

Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: unreliable-narrator

Setting: Big Cypress Swamp

Period: 1990s, 2010s

351 pages · Hardcover · Thomas & Mercer

Content warnings: death, mental-illness

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