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One bath wall is a mural of a brilliant-yellow sunflower. The theme carries over to the shower curtains, but the yellow vinyl is spattered with red blotches. Propped against the mirror is a South Kitsap High School photo of a teenaged girl.

Detective Megan Carpenter is no stranger to horrifying crime scenes, but when she arrives at the home of a woman whose body has been brutalized, Megan is shocked to discover that she knows the victim. Monique Delmont helped Megan when she was in danger years ago. And the killer has left a disturbing calling card… two laminated photographs of a sixteen-year-old high school girl – Megan.

Someone is taunting her in the worst way possible and Megan is convinced she knows who is responsible. She just has to find him.

With the help of her new partner, Deputy Ronnie Marsh, Megan begins to unravel the clues that will lead them to the killer including links to three female murder cases from nearly twenty years ago – one of which was Monique’s daughter.

But to protect those closest to her, Megan must continue to hide the dark truth of her past, even if that means lying to her team about her connection to Monique.

When two photographs of a teenage Megan are found at her boyfriend’s place in Snow Creek, she knows the killer is circling and ready to strike again.

Can she get to him before he finds her? And will she pay the ultimate price for trying to keep her terrifying past buried?

An addictive edge-of-your-seat crime thriller from the Number One, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon Chart bestselling author.

  

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“Sheriff said she’s about eighty years old and frail looking.” “Rowena Perkins likes tea spiked with Johnnie Walker and puzzles of half-naked firemen waving a hose.” “Who doesn’t?” Mindy says with a laugh. “Maybe they got in a fight over the puzzle.” I think it would be more likely over the Johnnie Walker, but I keep that to myself.

 

I wonder how I’ve gotten so popular all of a sudden. It can’t be because of the pile of dead bodies I seem to attract. Maybe it’s not being emotionally available? Men seem to like that. And big breasts. I don’t have those. But Clay also invited Ronnie, and she can give Dolly Parton a run for her money.

 

I love my job. I love that I’m making a difference. Helping victims. Getting justice. Maybe in the form of vengeance, but justice all the same.

 

My Review:

 

I was more than a bit conflicted during perusal and again in deciding my rating of this brilliantly contrived and multi-layered tale. It was my first outing with the talented scribe known as Gregg Olsen and I found his pen to be chillingly brilliant and his characters to be compelling and somewhat enigmatic. Mr. Olsen’s twisted serial killer has put a knot in my neck and kept my shoulders in my ears. His latest tautly written missive gripped my attention and pinned me in place, keeping me tense while periodically grinding my teeth throughout perusal as I had great difficulty with the unreliability of his main character.

Megan was a sharp and astute detective but deeply paranoid and a consummate liar. She lied about something every time she opened her mouth.   Some subterfuge was understandable, but she seemed to have an overriding need for massive deception that got in her way and put others in peril. Maybe had I read the first two books in the series I would have had a better grip on the underlying issues and wouldn’t have struggled with my personal distaste for her predilection for falsehood. And since I have no other complaints and nothing but respect for Mr. Olsen’s cunning craftsmanship, expert pacing, and shrewd placement of snark and humorous observations and musings, I chose to let go of what my friend Shalini calls her “niggles” and rave of his absorbing yet darkly disturbing storytelling skills. This bears further research on my part so I have added his listing to my TBR.