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The past has arrived uninvited at Jason Danvers’s door in the form of his younger sister, Hayden, a former addict who severed all contact with her family as her life spiraled out of control. Now she’s clean and sober but in need of a desperate favor—she asks Jason and his wife to take care of her teenage daughter for forty-eight hours while she handles some business in town.
But Hayden never returns.
Her disappearance brings up more unresolved problems from Jason’s past, including the abrupt departure of his best friend on the night of their high school graduation twenty-seven years earlier. When a body is discovered in the woods, the mysteries of his sister’s life—and possible death—deepen. One by one these events will shatter every expectation Jason has ever had about families, about the awful truths that bind them, and the secrets that should be taken to the grave.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 7, 2014 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781101604854
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781101604854
- File size: 1989 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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August 11, 2014
Jason Danvers, the hero of this tense, cleverly plotted thriller from Bell (Never Come Back), has relocated with his wife to his hometown of Ednaville, Ohio, where he’s making a fresh start after losing a job in New York City. The couple are surprised to receive a visit from Jason’s estranged alcoholic sister, Hayden, who appears to be on the wagon. Hayden has some unfinished business to take care of in town, and asks Jason to look after her daughter, a high school junior, while she leaves for 48 hours. Hayden doesn’t return, and her disappearance coincides with the resurfacing of a decades-old mystery involving Jason’s best friend, Logan Shaw, who went missing in high school. When a link emerges between Logan and Hayden, Jason realizes that family and friends have been hiding deep secrets for years. Bell skillfully throws curveballs into the story line, though veteran mystery fans may anticipate the jaw-dropping finale. Agent: Laney Katz Becker, Lippincott, Massie, McQuilkin Literary Agents. -
September 15, 2014
Dark secrets emerge from a man's long-ago high school days in this strong and moody novel. Jason Danvers is questioned by Ednaville, Ohio, police about his missing friend, Logan Shaw. They'd had a fistfight over Regan Maines on the night of their high school graduation, after which Logan disappeared and hasn't been seen since. Seventeen years later, Jason answers a knock at his door and sees his alcoholic sister, Hayden, for the first time in five years. She drops off her teenage daughter, Sierra, explaining it's only for two days while she deals with unexplained issues. But Hayden doesn't come back. Is she in serious trouble? Jason and his wife, Nora, are happy to care for the bright and mature Sierra, though she steals (well, borrows) and damages their car. The couple stays remarkably levelheaded, given the stresses the author puts on them. Another woman, Rose Holland, also shows up at Jason's door, "looking for that bitch sister of yours....Tell her to stay away from my man." So who is Hayden with? Each chapter quietly builds the mystery and pulls the reader along, despite the lack of hard-core action. Over the years Logan's parents receive letters from him in various parts of the country, so at least they're assured he's all right. But where is he? And where is Hayden? Can there possibly be a connection between the two? Meanwhile, Jason and Nora are decent people with little serious tension between them. The time the childless couple spent with a marriage counselor seems to have paid off, as they try to make an island of stability for Jason's sister and niece. But danger crops up in unexpected ways, and the plot comes full circle. Personal relationships are critical in this satisfying read, which is in the same class as Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter.COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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