Lauren Ballard vanished almost twenty years ago leaving a husband, a young daughter, and an entire town wondering what had happened to her. Nicola Bennett was with Lauren the night before she disappeared and she was the one who discovered she was gone the next day. There was some evidence of a struggle, but nothing definitive. Now, all these years later, Nicola is back in her hometown and she becomes consumed with trying to find out what happened to her friend. How much is she willing to risk to discover the truth?
THE GOOD ONES by Polly Stewart is a work of literary suspense and a psychological thriller. The author is a master of creating a compelling narrative. The deeper Nicola probes into the case the tension and suspense increase and with good reason. There is no shortage of suspects and all the characters are flawed. The many layers of the complex relationship between Nicola and Lauren are carefully peeled away and examined leaving unanswered questions. As Nicola learns that all she thought she knew about Lauren and her life was not as it seemed, she comes face to face with her own past as well.
THE GOOD ONES is a complex and engrossing story. Filled with secrets, surprises, and a shocking twist, this book is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
An engrossing work of literary suspense that illuminates the push and pull of female friendship and the costs of being good when the rules for women begin to chafe.
The last time Nicola Bennett saw Lauren Ballard she was scraping a key along the side of a new cherry-red Chevy Silverado. That was the night before her friend mysteriously vanished from her home, leaving a bloodstained washcloth and signs of a struggle—as well as her grieving husband and young daughter—behind.
Now, nearly twenty years later, Nicola, newly unemployed and still haunted by the disappearance of her childhood friend, is returning to her Appalachian hometown. For Nicola, Tyndall County has remained frozen in time. Everywhere she turns she’s reminded of Lauren. Yet shockingly, her former friends and neighbors have all moved on. Drawn to stories of missing girls, Nicola obsessively searches the internet, hoping to discover a clue to Lauren’s ultimate fate.
Driven by a desperate need to know what happened to her friend, Nicola takes a job in her hometown, determined to uncover any bit of information, any small clue, that can help. Deep down she knows the answers are tucked in the hollows and valleys of this small Blue Ridge county. As secrets come to light and the truth begins to unravel, will Nicola finally find release and break free of the past—or lose herself completely to unanswered questions from her adolescence?
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