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.
It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding
frenzyβa 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.
But from the moment Detective
Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the Jonesesβ 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.
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 guiltβor
just trying to hide? And will the only witness to the
crime be the killerβs next victim.
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