A stunningly complex and atmospheric novel from Edgar
Award–winning author Meg Gardiner, featuring a deeply
flawed, compelling heroine, a murder trial, and the
long-unsolved mystery it exposes.
Rory Mackenzie is juror number seven on a high-profile
murder case in her hometown of Ransom River, California.
It’s a place she vowed never to visit again, after leaving
behind its surfeit of regret and misfortune and the specter
of a troubled past that threatened to disturb the town’s
peaceful façade.
Brilliant yet guarded, Rory has always felt like an
outsider. She retreated into herself when both her career
aspirations and her love affair with a childhood friend,
undercover cop Seth Colder, were destroyed in a tragic accident.
While most of the town is focused on the tense and shocking
circumstances of the trial, Rory’s return to Ransom River
dredges up troubling memories from her childhood that she
can no longer ignore. But in the wake of a desperate attack
on the courthouse, Rory realizes that exposing these dark
skeletons has connected her to an old case that was never
solved, and bringing the truth to light just might destroy her.
Departing from her popular series novels, Meg Gardiner has
gone deeper than ever into the utterly convincing lives and
compelling pasts of her characters. Ransom River is an
intimate crime thriller with a dark mystery at its heart—one
that will keep readers breathless until the very last page.