August 18, 2014
Hannah Wickes, the heroine of this chilling psychological thriller from MacDonald (Sisters), works as a counselor at Restoration House, a treatment center for veterans in West Philadelphia. She and her husband, Adam, live as tenants in a nearby Victorian brownstone, along with their small daughter, Sydney, under assumed names. For the past year, Hannah and family have been hiding from frightening experiences in their past. When the brownstone’s elderly owner, Mamie Revere, has a stroke while babysitting Sydney, the girl’s cries catch the attention of a neighbor, who crawls through an open window, sees Mamie on the floor, and calls 911. This good deed leads to a reporter’s interview with Hannah in front of a TV news camera, much to her dismay. An extended flashback reveals the dreadful secret that drove Hannah and Adam to seek anonymity. MacDonald captures true evil that’s made even more repellent when set against the backdrop of “normal” middle class lives. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.
Starred review from January 24, 2011
MacDonald (From Cradle to Grave) offers a fresh, suspenseful spin on the vacation gone bad crime tale. Shelby Sloan, a well-to-do Philadelphia working woman, gives her daughter, Chloe Kenricks, and Chloe's husband, Rob, a Christmas treat—a Caribbean cruise to make up for the honeymoon the couple never had. Shelby even offers to care for their four-year-old son, Jeremy, while they're gone. Then Shelby receives a disturbing call from Rob, who tells her Chloe has fallen overboard and is missing off St. Thomas. Apparently, Chloe had been drinking. Shelby, unwilling to accept that Chloe had a drinking problem like Estelle Winter, Shelby's dying alcoholic mother, is sure that her daughter met with foul play. Shelby has further cause for alarm when Bud Ridley, a fellow Philly resident who saw Chloe the fateful night, kills himself after she questions him. The author nimbly reveals links to other murders—and to someone desperate to keep a secret. Fans of early Mary Higgins Clark will be rewarded.