I’m pleased to report to have been wildly off the mark with my guesses about what happened here, and that really is testimony to the plotting and execution of the story.
Isabelle Drake is a woman struggling. One year ago her toddler son disappeared from his bedroom. There has been no trace of him, and Isabelle is convinced that in some corners she is blamed for what happened. Her marriage has broken up and she is having difficulty sleeping. After talking at a true crime convention Isabelle meets with someone involved in a podcast. She wants to tell her story, though she fears telling it might incriminate her in some way.
As we become more immersed in Isabelle’s story we learn details of her past that lead us to believe she might have been involved. She has memories of events in her past that strongly implicate her.
From the moment we start to learn more about Isabelle and her history, it was hard to gauge where this was going. There were snippets that would hint at the story going one way, and then we’d shift into an alternate place. It was genuinely hard to pinpoint quite which details were pertinent and how we were being manipulated.
I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this prior to publication (scheduled for January 2023). A truly satisfying thriller.