Kate Wolfe is a child psychiatrist with a lot of baggage. When she was ten, her mother, Julia, was committed to a mental institution, and then later committed suicide. Then, when Kate was sixteen, her younger sister, Savannah, was abducted and murdered by Henry Blackstone. Even now, sixteen years later, Kate still blames herself for that. And she's also dealing with a recent patient's suicide, the upcoming execution of her sister's killer, and a new troubled teen named Maddie. But when Palmer Dyson, a retired police officer who investigated her sister's murder, shows up insisting that Blackstone is innocent and Savannah's real killer is still out there, Kate can't help but delve into the past. And what she finds puts her own life in danger and at times makes her question her own sanity.
This psychological thriller is the first book I've read by Alice Blanchard, and it's a good read. It's well-paced and held my interest all the way to the end. And Kate runs into some unexpected twists about her family along the way. I do have to say, I wasn't completely convinced when the real killer was revealed, probably because I was never given any reason to suspect him. I also questioned some of Kate's choices and decisions, but given her traumatic past I guess they were understandable. Despite her stubbornness, I liked her; I just wouldn't want her to be my psychiatrist. I did admire her toughness at the end, and I also liked her relationship with James, another psychiatrist at the hospital where she works. All in all, this ended up being a 3.5/5 star read for me.
Happy Reading!
