âNicci French is a specialist in the kind of evil that burrows from within.â âNew York Times Book Review
In this new heart-pounding standalone from the internationally bestselling author that People calls ârazor sharp,â a single mother suspects her young daughter has witnessed a horrible crime when the girl draws a disturbing pictureâbut the deadly path to unravel the truth could cost her everything.
Maybe Tess is overprotective, but passing her daughter off to her ex and his new young wife fills her with a sense of dread. Itâs not that Jason is a bad fatherâit just hurts to see him enjoying married life with someone else. Still, she owes it to her daughter Poppy to make this arrangement work.
But Poppy returns from the weekend tired and withdrawn. And when she shows Tess a crayon drawingâan image so simple and violent that Tess can hardly make sense of itââPoppy can only explain with the words, âHe did kill her.â
Something is horribly wrong. Tess is certain Poppy saw somethingâor something happened to herâthat sheâs too young to understand. Jason insists the weekend went off without a hitch. Doctors advise that Poppy may be reacting to her parentsâ separation. And as the days go on, even Poppyâs disturbing memory seems to fade. But a mother knows her daughter, and Tess is determined to discover the truth. Her search will set off an explosive tempest of dark secrets and buried crimesâand more than one life may be at stake.