Sandra and Jason Jones seem to have the perfect life: both
are young and good looking; she's a schoolteacher, he's a
reporter; they have an adorable little girl and an older
but well-kept house in a good neighborhood. But when Sandra
disappears from the house one night after putting Clarissa
to bed, that perfection is shattered. Or was it merely the
appearance of perfection?
From the start, Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren suspects
Jason knows more than he will admit. He seems detached,
almost uncaring about his wife's disappearance, and
reluctant to cooperate with the police. Where is the
frantic husband, desperate for news of his wife? His one
saving grace in D. D.'s eyes is that he seems genuinely
loving and protective toward Clarissa. With the only other
suspect being a registered sex offender in the
neighborhood, and each passing minute making the trail grow
colder, D. D. uses every means possible to break through
Jason's icy calm and uncover whatever he is hiding. This
leads her to discover more cracks in the carefully
constructed public image of this "normal" family.
Apparently Jason isn't the only one who's been keeping
secrets...
Lisa Gardner excels in writing about the darker side
of human nature and the extraordinary lengths people will
go to in order to survive. Her characters are rarely
painted in black or white but in various shades of gray. I
would think I'd made up my mind about someone and then
decide I wasn't absolutely sure. The inclusion of Clarissa
adds an emotional punch to a suspenseful, gritty story, and
the details about manipulating information on computers are
fascinating (and a little scary). I love Lisa
Gardner's books and this one is no exception.
From a master of suspense comes a chilling new novel that
explores the dangers lurking closer than you think.
Because even in the perfect family, you never know what is
going on behind closed doors...
This is what happened…
It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding
frenzy—a young mother, blond and pretty, disappears
without a trace from her South Boston home, leaving behind
her four-year-old daughter as the only witness and her
handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect.
In
the last six hours...
But from the moment Detective
Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the Joneses’ snug little
bungalow, she senses something off about the picture of
wholesome normality the couple worked so hard to create.
On the surface, Jason and Sandra Jones are like any other
hardworking young couple raising a four-year-old child.
But it is just under the surface that things grew
murky.
Of the world as I knew
it...
With the clock ticking on the life of a
missing woman and the media firestorm building, Jason
Jones seems more intent on destroying evidence and
isolating his daughter than on searching for his "beloved"
wife. Is the perfect husband trying to hide his guilt—or
just trying to hide? And will the only witness to the
crime be the killer’s next victim.