by Mark Edwards
First published 2018
Julia lost everything two years ago when her husband drowned trying to rescue their daughter Lily from the river. Her husband's body was recovered, but Lily vanished without a trace. Julia refuses to believe her daughter is dead. Now alone and struggling financially, she transforms her rural home into a writers' retreat. Lucas, a horror novelist, becomes one of her first guests. He grows fascinated by Lily's disappearance and begins his own investigation. Strange incidents soon disturb the retreat's quiet atmosphere. Julia and Lucas venture into the surrounding woods, following clues that lead them toward a buried truth. Someone desperately wants this secret to stay hidden. Julia must confront what really happened that terrible day by the river and discover why her daughter was never found.
Genres: suspense, mystery, horror, adult-fiction, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, gripping, haunting, psychological, suspenseful
Tropes: dark-secrets, forced-proximity, mystery-investigation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: rural home, river, woods, writers' retreat
Period: contemporary
335 pages · Paperback · Thomas & Mercer
Content warnings: child-death, death, murder