3.5 Stars
Shaw Connolly is a fingerprint analyst living in a rural Maine community. Besides the stresses of her job, Shaw is still suffering with the trauma of losing her sister. Sixteen years earlier, in 2007, her sister Thea went missing and has never been found. Thea is never far from Shaw’s thoughts; in fact, Shaw is obsessed with finding out what happened. Her marriage has suffered, as has her relationship with her youngest sister, and the lives of her two young sons are impacted by her relentless pursuit of the truth.
Shaw receives taunting calls from a man named Anders Jansen who implies that he had something to do with Thea’s disappearance. The calls become more threatening as it becomes obvious that Anders has been stalking Shaw. She is desperate to end the sinister calls, but she is also desperate to learn exactly what knowledge Anders has of Thea’s fate. A game of cat and mouse ensues.
Shaw is an interesting character. She is skilled at her job and remains unflinching in face of the horrors she witnesses at crime scenes. She has a tough exterior and is often bold and brash. A softer side is revealed in her nurturing of her young colleague whom she has been asked to mentor. And Shaw is so loving and protective of her family. Her vulnerability is obvious in how, even sixteen years later, she is haunted by her sister’s disappearance from their lives.
The pace of the novel is uneven. It begins very slowly with little suspense. There are scenes which seem to have little or no relevance. For instance, Shaw testifies as an expert witness for a court case. Her testimony goes on and on; it does emphasize her personality but we’ve already seen these traits. Then there’s the romantic subplot which also seems unnecessary and lessens the suspense one would expect in a book marketed as a thriller. Tension does build in the later part of the book when Anders’ threats become more menacing and overt so danger to both Shaw and her family escalates.
I found the relationship between Shaw and her surviving sister Mads especially interesting. Being younger, Mads has fewer memories of Thea and resents having her life defined by somebody whom she doesn’t remember clearly: “’Maybe we could start living for ourselves instead of some memory of a seventeen-year-old who never even had a chance to grow into somebody interesting, and some depressing old step-by-step story about the last time we saw her alive.’” Mads points out how obsessed Shaw is: “’Maybe you’re the one who should sit down and look at the Thea you think you remember. See if you can even separate her from yourself at this point.’” All of this has Shaw worried that she is going to lose her surviving sister as she searches for the truth about the one who didn’t survive.
There are some unanswered questions which irked me. What happens with Shaw’s relationship with McKenzie after her admission about Ryan? Does Aphrodite recover? Anders’ answer to Shaw’s question, “’Why do you hate me so much?’” is unconvincing. And that answer would surely result in a more emotional reaction after she’s had time to consider its implication, or does she interpret it merely as calculated manipulation?
Gillian French is known as a young adult author, this novel being her first foray into adult suspense fiction. The book does have some of the weaknesses found in a debut but is nonetheless entertaining.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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