Three college freshmen go missing from their rural hometown of Kelly's Falls while on Christmas break. Their cell phones, coats, and purses are left behind, but the girls have disappeared without a trace. As the days turn into weeks and the investigation grows cold, twenty-three year old Buffalo police officer Shea O'Connor is called on to dig up leads undercover.
This tense, fast-paced thriller has the reader believing they can pinpoint the offender before the novel is half-read, however, the surprising culprit is unexpected as well as the ending which is sure to incite a chuckle. This author recognizes exactly how to capture her audience and keep them riveted with the many twists and turns and subplots included in the narrative. The characters are well-defined, especially dealing with present-day teenagers, and the crime theories and scenarios are spot on.
While the conclusion is unnecessarily protracted, Redmond, herself a retired cold-case homicide detective from Buffalo, demonstrates her experience and delivers a well-crafted, pulsating mystery with a sobering twist. Fans of small-town mysteries will enjoy.
Redmond shows tensions mounting as Shea struggles for answers along with a town united in its resolve to find the missing girls ... A page-turner whose puzzling mystery and psychological drama are rooted in plausible descriptions of teenage angst.
