Crime & Thrillers

What kind of woman walks out on her family? Gregg knows. The kind of woman he picked up in a bar three years ago precisely because she had that kind of wildcat energy.

And now she’s vanished – at least from the life that he and the kid will live. But we’ll follow her, to a new town, a new job, and a new friend, who seems to know more about her than any new acquaintance should. Who is this woman, and how many times has she disappeared before? And who are the shadowy figures so interested in her whereabouts?

Lippman's brilliant new novel, which is like Anne Tyler's Ladder of Years as if written by James M Cain (Postman Always Rings Twice), will tangle you up in the life of the most unforgettable new heroine.

On the eve of his college graduation, Harry is called home by his step-mother Alice, to their house on the Maine coast, following the unexpected death of his father.

But who really is Alice, his father's much younger second wife? In a brilliant split narrative, Peter Swanson teases out the stories and damage that lie in her past. And as her story entwines with Harry’s in the present, things grow increasingly dark and threatening - will Harry be able to see any of it clearly through his own confused feelings?