From the author of the bestseller Only the Innocent.

In a quiet country village, secrets abound.

When a young girl, Abbie Campbell, is knocked over and left for dead on the back road of the village of Little Melham, waves of shock ripple through the small community and a chain of events, which threatens to expose long-kept secrets, is triggered.

For Ellie Saunders, the truth about that night puts both her marriage and the safety of her children in jeopardy―she has to protect her family, no matter what the cost. And Ellie isn’t the only one with something to hide. She and her sister Leo believe they have put their troubled childhood behind them, but Leo’s quest for the truth reveals a terrible secret that has lain hidden for years.

Ellie’s neighbour, former detective Tom Douglas, has escaped to Little Melham in search of a quiet life, but finds himself drawn into the web of deceit as his every instinct tells him that what happened to young Abbie was far more than a tragic accident.

In this gripping novel, the peaceful English countryside belies the horrible truths that lurk beneath the trimmed hedgerows, behind the closed doors of smart sitting rooms and within unspoken conversations.

From Booklist

Half-sisters Ellie and Leo have done a good job hiding the pain they experienced as children in a dysfunctional family, and now that they are grown up, they continue to maintain the façade. Ellie has a picture-perfect life but has recently initiated an affair. Leo is a successful life coach but can’t manage her own happiness. Added to the mix are several coupled-up friends of Ellie’s with plenty of their own dysfunctions. When a teenage girl in their sleepy British village is the victim of a hit-and-run, everyone finds themselves desperate to keep covering up various secrets. Local detective Tom Douglas arrives on the case and quickly realizes there’s more to this than a simple accident. He digs around and realizes the victim, who is in a coma, was actually abducted before she was run over, so there are two criminals he must now track down. Abbott creates a tangled web of deception, secrets, and red herrings that culminates in a shocking and satisfying, if a bit complicated, conclusion. Readers who miss Caroline Graham’s Chief Inspector Barnaby series will likely enjoy this mystery. --Rebecca Vnuk

Review

“Rachel Abbott will keep you guessing long into the night and just as soon as you’ve figured it out…Think again! The truth is…you will love this book.” ― Suspense Magazine

“An absorbing mystery of love, deceit, secrets, and murder…truly a spellbinding novel of suspense.” ―Mysterious Reviews

About the Author

Rachel Abbott was born and raised in Manchester, England, and trained as a systems analyst before launching her own interactive media company in the early 1980s. She sold her company in 2000, and in 2005 moved to the Le Marche region of Italy, where she wrote her first book― Only the Innocent. She now spends most of her time on the island of Alderney in the Channel Islands where she can focus full time on her writing.