First published 2008
Carolyn MacKenzie has lived with an impossible mystery for ten years. Her brother Mack disappeared from his Manhattan apartment as a Columbia senior, leaving behind law school acceptance and no explanation. He calls their mother once yearly on Mother's Day, says he's fine, then hangs up. Even their father's death in 9/11 didn't bring him home. Now twenty-six and a law school graduate, Carolyn decides she cannot move forward until she finds him. When she announces her plan during his annual call, Mack leaves a warning note at their uncle's church begging her to stop. Carolyn ignores him. Her search leads her to Mack's former roommates, building superintendents hiding secrets, and connections to missing women. The police suspect Mack might be a serial killer. Evidence links him to his murdered drama teacher. As Carolyn digs deeper into her brother's past, she uncovers dangerous truths that someone close to her family will kill to protect.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, family-drama
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, missing-person, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Manhattan, New York
Period: 9/11, Columbia University
289 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: death, murder, violence