In this riveting thriller from a new master of suspense, a young dancerâs homecoming is marred by a grisly discoveryâand the realization that nothing in her past may be quite what she believed.
When EsmĂ© Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and EsmĂ© knows itâs time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of EsmĂ©âs high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fostersâ house.
EsmĂ© is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her motherâand told EsmĂ© he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of EsmĂ©âs imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Karaâs murder have been a case of mistaken identity?
Detective Rita Myers is familiar with closeknit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.
Day by day, EsmĂ© discovers more about the place she left behindâand the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end âŠ
âA failed ballerinaâs return home is turned upside down by the appearance of a dead body in her familyâs yard ⊠Parlato piles on the rumors, menace, and revelations.ââKirkus Reviews