This is an enjoyable psychological thriller. We, the readers, know from page one that Freddy did the deed. Dakota Kilroy, an out-of-work journalist investigating the unsolved disappearance of her best friend some twelve years earlier, doesn't know what we know. The story is told through two POVs: Dakota's and Freddy's. How Dakota unfolds the events leading up to Maddy's fate and how Freddy does his best to thwart her investigation is what keeps this story compelling and intriguing to the end.
Morris has compiled a full and varied list of characters from Dakota, the driven and persistent investigative journalist who couldn't be any more different to her mother and sisters, to the warped and twisted Freddy and his long-suffering mother, now having to relent to some of the less-pleasant gifts of aging.
I'll be honest: there are a couple of 'hmm, really?' moments, where the plot hits a few conveniences and improbabilities, but, hey, it's fiction, and my enjoyment of a story that never loses momentum makes them pale into insignificance.
This is a debut novel and one that has assured a place for Morris in my 'read more of' list. I'm pretty sure Dakota and her compulsion to dig deep has many more gripping adventures for us to savour.
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