Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers--Owen's sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.
As Hannah's increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen's boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen's true identity--and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen's past, they soon realize they're also building a new future--one neither of them could have anticipated.
In this era of domestic thrillers, a novel about a functional, loving family can feel refreshing and downright unexpected ... The drama gets a little thin in spots ... Downplaying the conflict might be a trade-off for the novel’s greater focus on character development and relationships. Hannah’s insights and epiphanies about how to parent an untrusting teenager aren’t all that revelatory, but they certainly are reminders of what’s most important ... As a result, Dave pulls off something that feels both new and familiar: a novel of domestic suspense that unnerves, then reassures ... Dave has given readers what many people crave right now—a thoroughly engrossing yet comforting distraction.
... a heart-pounding mystery about good and evil that is reminiscent of true crime ... This fast-paced novel is a nail-biting suspenseful story, dealing with family relationships, love, devotion, personal sacrifices, and the chances parents must take sometimes to save their children from evil.
... suspense is a new genre for [Dave] and it works. Set aside some time because this one is a page-turner with a mystery you’ll want to get to the bottom of quickly. You can almost imagine the race against time that Hannah is under with a Jack Bauer-esq 24 clock ticking away.
