*"One of the brightest new stars of literary suspense."
--Los Angeles Times
New York Times bestselling author Jennifer McMahon is back with a
gut-wrenching mystery about an architect whose troubled mother has been
found 25 years after being kidnapped--by a killer who is still on the
loose
The summer of 1985 changed Reggie's life. Thirteen, awkward, and without
a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school's
outcasts--Charlie, the local detective's son, and Tara, a goth kid who
has a mental hold over Reggie and harbors a dark secret. That same
summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves
their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later,
displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother
Vera--an ex-model with many "boyfriends" and a thirst for gin--the most,
Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body
and Neptune disappears.
Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that
horrific summer, Reggie doesn't trust anyone and lives with few
attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying
that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of
her past and find Neptune before he kills again.
With her signature style, Jennifer McMahon portrays the dark side of
adolescent friendship and introduces characters who haunt the
imagination, along with a disturbing web of secrets, betrayals, and
murder.
