"We don't get to have a nice, neat explanation for everything that happens in life---bad or good. I guess that's what life is: Things happen, and how we deal with them makes us who we are. We can either choose to learn and rise above, or give up and let the bad things defeat us."
-Anne, from the novel
This was another page turner by Tami Hoag and a welcome break after reading a more challenging literary piece, All the Light We Cannot See. I have read other mysteries by this author but none recently. I have enjoyed them all---easy to read, entertaining but quickly forgotten. No need to analyze, nothing very profound, just a suspenseful novel you don't want to put down.
This book begins with the brutal murder of artist Marissa Fordham and attempted murder of her young daughter, Haley. Detective Vince Leone, former special FBI agent, takes the lead in the investigation along with sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and others of fictional Oak Knoll. Vince's wife, Anne, a child psychologist becomes involved in helping Haley to deal with the trauma she's experienced. As the story unfolds, numerous characters are revealed as suspects---one who commits suicide. Then a possible witness is kidnapped and cruelly tortured. Throw in a violent juvenile patient of Anne's who goes on a rampage and you have a first class thriller. The plot twists and turns before the surprising revelation.
Anne, one of the major characters, has my name and also was a former school teacher, as I was. I found I could easily identify with her especially in her compassion toward children. Fortunately, I have never been brutally attacked by anyone as Anne apparently was in an earlier novel in this series (Deeper than the Dead, I think).
I give this novel a 5. I am already wondering if there is another of this series!
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