21. Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron

listened to Audio/borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated by Joshua Manning in a thick Scottish brogue
Unabridged audio (8:19)
2019 Macmillan Children's Books
288 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 1/30/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 437 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Scotland

First line/s:  "This never would have happened if I hadn't named the bloody cat Tinker Bell."

My comments:  This was a quiet, lovely story:  loads of reality gently sprinkled with some wonderful fantasy.  The protagonist, Brody, is a quiet, gay 16-year old with a genius brother, an overworked mother, and a dad who has agoraphobia and hasn't left the house in years.  Brody is constantly teased and ridiculed by a pair of girls in his apartment complex and at school, he's afraid he's going to fail all his exams, and he never gets a chance to play the beloved drums that he only get to access at school.  Then he meets Nico and is introduced to Everland, a land of fantasy and happiness.....Narrated in a thick Scottish brogue, I found the story absolutely delightful.

Goodreads synopsis:  Brody Fair feels like nobody gets him: not his overworked parents, not his genius older brother, and definitely not the girls in the projects set on making his life miserable. Then he meets Nico, an art student who takes Brody to Everland, a “knock-off Narnia" that opens its door at 11:21pm each Thursday for Nico and his band of present-day misfits and miscreants.

          Here Brody finds his tribe and a weekly respite from a world where he feels out of place. But when the doors to Everland begin to disappear, Brody is forced to make a decision: He can say goodbye to Everland and to Nico, or stay there and risk never seeing his family again.

20. Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza

#1 Kate Marshall
read on my iPhone (Kindle)
2019 Thomas & Mercer
392 pgs.
Adult murder mystery series
Finished 1/28/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.15 - 5701 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Contemporary England

First line/s:  "Detective Constable Kate Marshall was on the train home when her phone rang."

My comments:  This was an intricately told from two points of view - that of the good guy and that of the bad guy.  And this was a VERY bad guy, with clever accomplices and a particularly weird relationship with his mother.  Kate had been a cop when she first met Peter, another copy, and had even had a one-night stand with him before she disovered he was a notorious serial killer.  Now incarcerated in a hospital for the mentally and possibly insane, he, his mother, and a new wannabe create a plot to not only spring him from this high-security prison, but get revenge upon Kate.  The back-and-forth is interesting, but because I was reading it in spits and spurts, it did seem to drag a little.  If I'd read it in one long swoop or listened to it, it would've probably not seemed so draggy.  It was a really good story, twisted, dark, and particularly grizzly.  It was also the first in the series.  I do think that I will read the second.

Goodreads synopsis:  From the breakthrough international bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice, a breathtaking, page-turning novel about a disgraced female detective’s fight for redemption. And survival…
          Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly turned into a nightmare. Traumatized, betrayed, and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, Kate could only watch as her career ended in scandal.
          Fifteen years after those catastrophic events, Kate is still haunted by the unquiet ghosts of her troubled past. Now a lecturer at a small coastal English university, she finally has a chance to face them. A copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle, continuing the ghastly work of his idol.
          Enlisting her brilliant research assistant, Tristan Harper, Kate draws on her prodigious and long-neglected skills as an investigator to catch a new monster. Success promises redemption, but there’s much more on the line: Kate was the original killer’s intended fifth victim…and his successor means to finish the job.

19. Dark Pattern by Andrew Mayne

#4 Dr. Theo Cray/The Naturalist
listened to Audible
narrated by Will Damron
2019 Thomas & Mercer
316 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Serial Killer
Finished 1/27/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.21 - 2317 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporay Texas, St. Lucia, and other points on the map....

First line/s: "Nora watched the doorway.  This was when the Night Lady usually stopped at her room and stared inside."

My comments:  Serial killer hunter extraordinaire!  Whenever I go into one of the Theo Cray books now, I know I have to suspend reality checks.  I'm sure most of - or at least many -  of Cray's technological "inventions" are still science-fiction, but they are what makes these mysteries so different.  You know that he's going to get himself into some stupid cray situations and you roll your eyes at most of his antics, but that's also what makes these books so much fun, as well as his definite Asperger's/Autistic tendencies and his cognition of them.  It also cracks me up how much he irritates people.  A huge part of the plot comes off as comic relief for me, I wonder if it affects others in the same way?  To write this combination of grizzly deaths and this extraordinary character is quite genius.  A real breakdown should be coming for this man!  Or has he had it?  ti's hard to tell from the ending of this book, which did seem a little rushed compared to the rest of it.

Goodreads synopsis:  Dr. Theo Cray is on the hunt for a killer nurse, and redemption, in a mind-bending psychological thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist.
          Dr. Theo Cray has a legendary mathematical knack for catching serial killers. Until his exposure to a mind-altering pathogen knocks him off his game. It has upended an investigation, destroyed his reputation, and left him to question his own sanity. One person still trusts him to finish the job. His former professor Amanda Paulson is helping point Cray down a logical path to his prey: a nomadic health-care worker whose murder spree stretches back decades and whose victims number in the hundreds.
          Never more desperate to save innocent lives, and to save himself, Cray follows each new lead around the world. But with his own grip on reality slipping away, Cray knows that to follow the pattern of an elusive killer, he must also confront his own dark side. In those dangerous shadows, he can find what he’s hunting. For Cray, venturing into a world without reason is going to be the most frightening journey of his life.

18. The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

#3 Renee Ballard & Harry Bosch
Listened to Audible
narrated by Titus Welliver and Christine Lakin
Unabridged audio (10:04)
2019 Little Brown & Co.
405 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 1/26/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.35 - 18,962 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary LA

First line/s:  "Bosch arrived late and had to park on a cemetery lane far from the grave site."

My comments:  This was an intricately woven series of mysteries stemming from a cold case that Harry Bosch had received from his deceased mentor, and an arson case that Renee Ballard covered on her night shift, as well as some investigative work that Harry completed for his half-brother, Mickey Haller.  Complex but easy to follow, the working relationship and almost affection they have for each other is palpable.  I hate that Harry is pushing 70, but I adore him just as much as I always have.  I love the back-and-forth chapters hearing the voices of both of them.

Goodreads synopsis:  Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renee Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained him -- new from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly
          Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, John Jack Thompson, is dead, but after his funeral his widow hands Bosch a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD 20 years before -- the unsolved killing of a troubled young man in an alley used for drug deals.
          Bosch brings the murder book to Renée Ballard and asks her to help him find what about the case lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. That will be their starting point.
          The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a worrying question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?

17. Freefall by Jessica Barry

listened to on Audible
narrated by Hilary Huber, Karissa Vacker, and MacLeod Andrews
Unabridged audio (12:03)
2019, Harper
368 pgs.
Adult CRF/Survival/Mystery
Finished 1/25/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.77 - 6212 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Colorado rockies and midcoast Maine

First line/s: "Breathe.  Breathe.  My eyes open.  A flock of birds stare down before taking flight.  I survived."

My comments:  I love the way this story went back and forth between mother and daughter dealing with the same horrendous situation.  Even though I guessed from early on most of the mysteries of the story - once you've read a few of these kind of thrillers you can guess that sort of thing - it was put together really well and was exciting.  I could easily put myself in the place of the two major characters, mother and daughter, and all the things that brought them to this point in their lives.  I particularly related to the mother, who lost her husband to cancer two years previously and misses him horribly.

Goodreads synopsis:  A propulsive debut novel with the intensity of Luckiest Girl Alive and Before the Fall, about a young woman determined to survive and a mother determined to find her.
          When your life is a lie, the truth can kill you   

          When her fiancé’s private plane crashes in the Colorado Rockies, Allison Carpenter miraculously survives. But the fight for her life is just beginning. For years, Allison has been living with a terrible secret, a shocking truth that powerful men will kill to keep buried. If they know she’s alive, they will come for her. She must make it home.
          In the small community of Owl Creek, Maine, Maggie Carpenter learns that her only child is presumed dead. But authorities have not recovered her body—giving Maggie a shred of hope. She, too, harbors a shameful secret: she hasn’t communicated with her daughter in two years, since a family tragedy drove Allison away. Maggie doesn’t know anything about her daughter’s life now—not even that she was engaged to wealthy pharmaceutical CEO Ben Gardner, or why she was on a private plane.
          As Allison struggles across the treacherous mountain wilderness, Maggie embarks on a desperate search for answers. Immersing herself in Allison’s life, she discovers a sleek socialite hiding dark secrets. What was Allison running from—and can Maggie uncover the truth in time to save her?
          Told from the perspectives of a mother and daughter separated by distance but united by an unbreakable bond, Freefall is a riveting debut novel about two tenacious women overcoming unimaginable obstacles to protect themselves and those they love.

16. Murder Board by Brian Christopher Shea

#1 Michael Kelly, Boston/Dorchester detective
read on my iPhone - Kindle
2019 Severn River Publishing
321 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 1/23/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 292 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Boston/Dorchester, MA

First line/s: "Twelve minutes didn't seem like a long time.  It's the time a morning commuter waits for the next T to arrive.  Or somebody idles in line at their local Dunkin' Donuts in anticipation of their morning jolt.  To those people twelve minutes is an inconvenience, but to Michael Kelly it was an eternity."

My comments:  This is about a Boston homicide cop written by a former Boston cop.  This one was about a Polish family that abducted very young girls - 13/14 - and forced them into the sex trade underground of Dorchester.  The protagonist cop is divorced with an eight year old daughter, born and bred in Dorchester in a family of Irish Americans.  He teams up with an old female friend in the sex crimes unit to solve the murder of a 13 year-old girls and dig into the business surrounding her demise.  For some reason the book seemed to drag, but that may be my fault because I've spent so much time listening to books lately instead of reading the, and read this one in bits and pieces over a two-week period.

Goodreads synopsis:  A Boston homicide detective sets out to find a young girl’s killer—and confronts the dark world of city politics and organized crime. THE FIRST NOVEL OF THE NEW BOSTON CRIME THRILLER SERIES BY FORMER DETECTIVE BRIAN SHEA.
          The young girl was from a good family in an affluent suburb. Her body was found in a shallow grave in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, not far from where Detective Michael Kelly grew up.
          Solving a murder is never a simple undertaking, but Kelly is driven. Obsessed with finding justice for the victim. Willing to do whatever it takes. Destroy politicians. Stand up to the mob.
          Kelly is a fighter, and he needs to be. Because his investigation uncovers a wide conspiracy—and many more innocent lives are at stake.   
          As the lines between right and wrong begin to blur, Kelly turns to his old connections on the streets of Boston. The search for answers becomes a clash of policing and politics. Of redemption and betrayal. Of greed and violence. To find true justice, Kelly will do whatever it takes...or die trying.                    BRIAN SHEA has served as both a military officer and law enforcement Detective, and his authentic crime fiction novels have been enjoyed by thousands. His books are recommended for readers who enjoy Michael Connolly’s Harry Bosch, David Baldacci’s John Puller, or James Patterson’s Alex Cross.

15. The Wish by Patricia Davids

#1 Amish of Cedar Grove
Listened to the Audio/Chirp
narrated  by Christina Traister
Unabridged audio (8:57)
2019 HQN Books
384 pgs.
Adult Christian CRF
Finished 1/23/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.49 - 122 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary small Amish community in - I think - Kansas

First line/s:  "This was so much harder than she expected it to be."

My comments:  I enjoyed this clean Amish romance.  The bishop was a kind, good man, unlike many of the bishops that I've read about in previous Amish literature.  The narrator read the voice of Joshua in a very flat, unemotional way, which was disconcerting.  I'm sure she was trying to keep her voice as "male" as possible, but there were some places that the lack of emotion was not what would have been actually happening.  Just made it so that I had to keep reminding myself that what I heard and what was actually meant to be heard were two different things.  So much forgiveness and looking past wrongs in this Amish community!  Some of the values in this book were quite different from those I've read about in others.  There seems to be a vast difference between different communities.  This one was in Kansas.  I enjoyed it.

Goodreads synopsis:  Widow Laura Beth Yoder longs for a family of her own. So much so that she’s preparing to leave the sleepy Amish town she calls home to find love. But a terrible storm washes out the creek, forcing her to wade in and save the life of an Englisch man and his adorable infant son. As they recover at the farm, the baby brings sunshine and joy, while the handsome outsider is filled with shadows…and secrets.
          Joshua King owes his life and his son’s to Laura Beth. Still, lingering at her farm is out of the question. He must fulfill a promise he made to his estranged wife on her deathbed: to deliver their son to his Amish in-laws. With his dark past, Joshua has no other choice. But his plans never took this sweet and surprising Amish widow into account. She just might be his second chance at happiness…and love.

Picture Books Themed: Friendship

 Books:

Cyril and Pat by Emily Gravett
Boom Snot Twitty by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Renata Liwska
One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, ullustrated by David Small
Virgil & Owen by Paulette Bogan
Friends by Eric Carle

Two activities:
        Make a "Friendship Wreath" using tempera-coated palm prints
        String pony beads onto stretchy cord to make a bracelet for a friend and a matching one for yourself.

Songs/Wordplay:
     Make New Friends
          Make new friends, but keep the old
          One is silver and the other's gold.
     Will You Be a Friend of Mine (to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
          Will you be a friend of mine,
          Friend of mine,
          Friend of mine,
          Will you be a friend of mine
          Please meet my friend, _______________________

14. Throttle Me by Chelle Bliss

#1 Men of Inked
Listened to audio / Chirp
narrated by Lance Greenfield and Kirsten Leigh
Unabridged audio (8:19)
2014 Bliss Ink
278 pgs.
Adult Romance/Steamy
Finished 1/21/20
Goodreads rating:  4.03 - 15,408 ratings
My rating:  2.5
Setting: Contemporary Florida

First line/s: "The moonlight filtered through the pine trees lining the fields, leaving shadows on the pavement."

My comments:  The first in a series of books called "Men of Inked", which I'm guessing is about a family of siblings since this first one is about a tattooer and his siblings.  Not great writing, and I hate how City (what a stupid name)/Joey calls Suzy "Sugar" all the time.  It's cheezy.  And the required best friend and her boyfriend make me roll my eyes, they're just thrown in to add pages, unneeded pages.  Yeah, I still read this, right? Yuck.

Goodreads synopsis:  Suzy’s a control freak with her life mapped out—work hard, find the right man, and live happily ever after. Her plan comes to a screeching halt when her car breaks down and a tattooed bad boy rescues her from the side of the road.
          The chance encounter leads to a night of passion and turns her world upside down. Can their one-night stand ever turn into the real thing?

Picture Book - Around the Passover Table by Tracy Newman

Illustrated by Adriana Santos

2019 Albert Whitman & Co.

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.67 - 21 ratings

My rating:  4
Endpapers:  Dark baby blue

1^st line/s:  "Here is our table for this seder night."

My comments: Modern-day illustrations, multi-ethnic representations, simplicity and not too much text highlight this book as a great read aloud for preschoolers, just what I was looking for!  I love that the family's cat and dog are in every illustrations, no matter what's going on, just part of the family!

Goodreads:  The candles are lit, the seder plate filled, and the matzo stacked high. Join in to read, sing, eat, and observe the holiday. The many steps of a Passover seder are portrayed in this rhyming story.

13. To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

read the BOOK!!! (first one this year)
2019 Dial Books
295 pgs.
YA Contemporary Epistolary
Finished 1/20/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.09 - 4115 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary NYC, California coast, Minnesota woods....

First line/s: "From:  Brett Devlin
To:  Avery Bloom
Subject:  you don't know me"

My comments:  Note, the above cover is the only one I've seen on a book, but I found this illustrated cover that may be the Kindle edition cover?
     I read a book, an actual book, not on my phone/Kindle or audio!295 pages, all delightful.  I giggled and laughed out loud all the way throught.  Written entirely in correspondence between two 12-year old  protagonists, they begin as adversaries committed to breaking up their dating fathers, and of course their relationship grows into so much ore.  Clever and completely delicious with a wonderful cast of really well-fleshed-out characters and many wonderful settings.  An almost perfect book for every 12-year-old girl on the planet!

Goodreads synopsis:  From two extraordinary authors comes a moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters.
          Avery Bloom, who's bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who's fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads.
          When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends--and possibly, one day, even sisters.
          But things soon go off the rails for the girls (and for their dads too), and they find themselves on a summer adventure that neither of them could have predicted. Now that they can't imagine life without each other, will the two girls (who sometimes call themselves Night Owl and Dogfish) figure out a way to be a family?

Picture Book - If I Built a School by Chris VanDusen

Illustrated by the author

2019 Dial Book for Young Readers

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.24 - 413 ratings 

My rating:  5
Endpapers:grenn with white outline drawing of OTHER crazy school ideas - lots of fun to look at!

1^st line/s:  "Jack, on the playground, said to Miss Jane,
This school is OK, but it's pitifully plain.
The builders who built this I think should be banned.
It's nothing at all like the school I have planned."

My comments: I love Chris VanDusen!  I love his illustrations, his ideas, and his very clever rhyming.

Goodreads: In this exuberant companion to If I Built a Car, a boy fantasizes about his dream school--from classroom to cafeteria to library to playground.
     My school will amaze you. My school will astound.
     By far the most fabulous school to be found!
     Perfectly planned and impeccably clean.
     On a scale, 1 to 10, it's more like 15!
     And learning is fun in a place that's fun, too.
                 If Jack built a school, there would be hover desks and pop-up textbooks, skydiving wind tunnels and a trampoline basketball court in the gym, a robo-chef to serve lunch in the cafeteria, field trips to Mars, and a whole lot more. The inventive boy who described his ideal car and house in previous books is dreaming even bigger this time.

12. There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Listened on Audible/Chirp
narrated  by Vikas Adam & Soneela Nankani
Unabridged audio (11:36)
2019 Simon Pulse
378 pgs.
Contemporary YA Romance
Finished 1/19/2020
Goodreads rating:
My rating: 2.5
Setting: Contemporary California, near SF/San Jose?

First line/s:   "Ashish Patel wasn't sure why people ever fell in love."

My comments:  This was just too sweet and sappy, repetitive and cute.  Yes, I can definitely say it was cute.  I suppose there are YAs that would enjoy this, but as someone who totally enjoys YA books, that person wasn't me.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
          The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?
          Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.
          Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.
          Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?

11. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

listened to Audio - borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated  by Katie Schorr
Unabridged audio (9:26)
2019 Sourcebooks Landmark
308 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 1/17/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.25 - 18,615 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: 1936 Kentucky

First line/s:  "The librarian and her mule spotted it at the same time."

My comments:  Based on numerous historical facts and beautifully written.  Cussy - nicknamed Bluett because of her blue skin - riders her ornery mule, Junia, through treacherous eastern Kentucky mountains to deliver precious books and magazines to her poor, starving "patrons."  Ostracized with other people of color, she and her father - a coal miner dying of lung sickness - struggle to make a living and survive in the harshest of bad times.  There are lots of characters, all so well written that they quickly become unforgettable.  But no matter how difficult circumstances or situations become, Cussy's strong will and compassion carry her through.  I'm so glad I read this book, I almost didn't.  Will I remember it, will the story and its circumstances resonate?  Absolutely.

Goodreads synopsis:  In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.
          Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.
          The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a powerful message about how the written word affects people--a story of hope and heartbreak, raw courage and strength splintered with poverty and oppression, and one woman's chances beyond the darkly hollows. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases a bold and unique tale of the Packhorse Librarians in literary novels — a story of fierce strength and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere — even back home.

10. Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Listened to audio, borrowed from library
Narrated  by January LaVoy (super easy to listen to, good with voices)
Unabridged audio (10:23)
2018 Minotaur Books
311 pgs.
Adult Mystery Thriller
Finished 1/16/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.06 - 11,241 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Seattle, Washington, with flashbacks 15 and 20 years.

First line/s:  "The trial has barely made a dent in the national news."

My comments:  A hugely mesmerizing story, told in snippets back-and-forth fifteen years apart, the story solwly peels back the layers of what happened one fateful night.  This examines all sorts of love - loe of friends, love of lovers, and love of parents and their children.  Once I started reading/listening I couldn't stop.  Giving clues along the way - some of the pretty blatant, actually - I totally enjoyed this piece of storytelling, no matter how upsetting it became.  I don't think I should have enjoyed it as much as I did!

Goodreads synopsis:  This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . .
          When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.
          But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.
          To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he's something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo's first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed.
          For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela's death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison.
          While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.
          How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it?