“Kent doesn’t play games with the whodunit plotting, and the novel’s water imagery is properly eerie” in this psychological thriller about a missing woman (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times).
When Beth disappears, everyone says she’s run off with another man. She’s just a fly-by-night party girl who can’t be trusted. But Natalie, her best friend, doesn’t believe it, not at all. She’s sure something more sinister is going on. So sure that proving it just might kill her . . .
Meanwhile, Victor, one of Beth’s and Nat’s favorite bar patrons, has fallen and ended up in the hospital. When he hears that Beth is gone, he doesn’t buy it either. And slowly, a hazy memory comes back to him. Something menacing . . . something important . . . something just out of his grasp . . .
As Nat tries to piece together the events—and people—in Beth’s life, it becomes more difficult to discern who can and can’t be trusted. The little town in the English countryside takes on an ominous air, with a threat behind every corner, outside every window. And someone is always watching . . .
“A thriller that is tense and compassionate, brutal and gently humane, mysterious, thoughtful and exciting—now that’s a thriller.” —Cathleen Schine, New York Times–bestselling author of The Three Weissmanns of Westport
“Many talented thriller-writers can make a reader’s pulse race; what elevates Ms. Kent’s writing is her added ability to touch the reader’s heart.” —Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal
“The escalating fear in this female-in-jeopardy gripper is balanced with real emotional heft.” —Sunday Times
“[Kent’s] best book yet.” —Mail on Sunday
Christobel Kent’s previous books include A Time of Mourning, A Party in San Niccolo, Late Season, and A Florentine Revenge. She lives near Cambridge, England, with her husband.