... a gripping, gut-wrenching thriller ... moves at a tantalizing pace ... Chapters alternate between Eliza’s present and her flashbacks to 1996, just before she left Kinsale for college. This device gives her depth, revealing a flawed and sometimes insecure individual. That she’s no golden girl raises the mystery’s stakes: Eliza’s memory of herself has to be reappraised. Characters from the past recur in the present, adding dimension and subtext to the tale. A deft authorial touch brings tension to a head with speed ... an excellent, tense, slick mystery that investigates a small town’s evil secrets.
Some readers might be baffled by the complexity, or grow impatient with the teen angst, but fans of Jane Harper’s mysteries, also set Down Under in creepily threatening small towns, will feel right at home.
... brilliantly crafted ... slides with delicious subtlety from a story that begins in small-town reminiscences and regrets, moves into amateur investigation blended with personal history and deep secrets, and then takes a plunge into driving thriller territory ... The author tugs hard at universal human emotions as she explores themes of grief and the unreliability of memory. Readers will view everyone Eliza encounters with a blend of suspicion and sympathy. Clifford is definitely a writer to watch.
