First published 2022
Melissa has built a new life as a podcaster and lawyer, recently marrying a widower with a young daughter named Riley. As she helps her mother Nancy move from Cape Cod to the Hamptons, the family seems ready for a fresh start. But when Riley suddenly disappears, old fears resurface. Melissa and her brother Mike know firsthand what it means to be taken. Years ago, they vanished as children while their mother became the prime suspect, just as Nancy had once been wrongly convicted of murdering her first two children in California. Now adults, Melissa and Mike draw on their painful experience to search for Riley. They race against time to find the girl before she suffers the same trauma that still haunts them. The investigation forces the family to confront how their past shaped them and whether they can break the cycle of tragedy that seems to follow them.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: California, Cape Cod, Hamptons
Period: present-day
387 pages · Library Binding · Thorndike Press
Content warnings: child-abuse, kidnapping