After surviving a serial killer's abduction as a young teenager, Ellery Hathaway is finally attempting a normal life. She has a new job as a rookie Boston detective and a fledgling relationship with Reed Markham, the FBI agent who rescued her years ago. But when a twelve-year-old girl disappears on Ellery's watch, the troubling case opens deep wounds that never fully healed.
Trauma underpins so many of the characters’ reactions and decisions in Every Waking Hour, and Schaffhausen addresses it with fascinating detail and great empathy, drawing on her background in neuroscience and Ph.D. in psychology. It all makes for a compelling countdown to a surprising resolution (several of them, really—there are numerous intriguing threads for reader-sleuths to follow). This book is the fourth Ellery Hathaway title, and the gasp-inducing goings-on in its final pages are sure to prime fans for yet another skillfully crafted, suspenseful installment.
... will keep readers on their toes. Each page will be turned with your heart in your throat as if you are the parents of the young girl and fear the reality of the horrific ending that you try to put out of your mind. Ellery Hathaway is a strong character, which is quite an accolade considering what she has gone through in her life. That is what makes this series so engaging, and the fact that Schaffhausen ends the proceedings with a whopper of a cliffhanger means that the next installment cannot come fast enough.
Schaffhausen’s ability to generate suspense and her nuanced depiction of tangled relationships hold strong appeal, but veteran crime-fiction readers may find that the mystery is wrapped up a bit too theatrically.
