A sensational thriller about vigilante justice, self-sacrifice, and the ties that bind.

This was my eleventh book I chose via the Reedsy Discovery program, for which I am the single approved reviewer for this new book. This review also appears on Reedsy.

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The Premise

Deirdre’s past is shrouded in a scandal she never quite understood as a child — her father, a paediatrician, was implicated in a child-abduction scandal that cost him his job and forced him to change his identity. The past comes knocking on her door when her sister Lauralee says she’s been contacted by someone looking into their father’s past, including a former classmate who had disappeared. The child kidnappings had a possible connection to an elusive pedophile — could this have been their father?

Compelled to learn the truth, Deirdre soon finds herself embroiled in a dangerous situation with multiple players in a game she doesn’t know how to play. Luckily, she’s a fast learner — and braver than she ever knew she could be, when a rescue mission goes wrong and she has to break the law to save a child. Suddenly in over her head with both law enforcement and dangerous criminals, can she figure out who to trust, before it’s too late?

The Pros

This was a sensational thriller about vigilante justice, self-sacrifice, and the ties that bind.

Despite her childhood memories being a blurry haze of pampered indulgence and vague notions of paternal love, the adult Deirdre still bears the weight of gut-wrenching doubt:

He’s my father for God’s sake, he can’t be a pedophile. But what if he is?

Her sister’s unease at an unwelcome visitor dredging up the past summons Deirdre’s sleuthing skills, and she sets off to investigate if there may have been any truth to the rumours about their father.

Far from your typical damsel-in-distress, Deirdre is a former psychiatrist turned legal investigator who has never quite found her niche in life, and shudders at the memory of a time she’d once contemplated marriage as “an alternative to boredom”.

Her life pivots swiftly from this “boredom” into a thrilling action ride when a rescue mission goes wrong, and her mettle is tested when she must break the law to save an endangered child. In the aftermath, she feels energized — a feeling that stays with her, even as the world around her seems to be devolving into madness as law enforcement and dangerous criminals are hot on her heels.

As she stumbles down an illegal path of no return, she is torn between loyalty to her father, and her own reticence to ever step beyond her comfort zone. Even as she faces death, she worries at the mark — or lack thereof — that she’s left on the world:

I have to ask myself: before Dad brought me into his world, what had I done to help anyone else? I’ve never deliberately harmed anyone, but actually, have I done anything at all philanthropic?

Deirdre was a refreshing female protagonist with an engaging voice that echoes traits of women’s fiction interwoven into this thrilling joyride of a novel. As she careens from one suspenseful moment to the next, putting her faith in the sketchiest characters to be her guardian angels, her aplomb is awe-inspiring.

I appreciated the character development of all the players in this game of catch-me-if-you-can. Small touches breathed life into the details: her father’s double life that he hid from his children to protect them, her sister’s banal cookie-cutter marriage and motherhood that Deirdre somewhat despises, the good-guy-bad-guy-combo cop, her boss’ shady manipulations — and of course, the enigmatically enticing Greg, who always keeps you guessing.

The writer’s talent is undeniable as it weaves a plausible, visceral tale that effortlessly injects a dose of self-reflection alongside the soaring and plummeting of the plot points. It leaves you wondering if you, too, would rise to the occasion if you had the opportunity to sacrifice yourself to save the innocent.

Conclusion

This was an excellent, fast-paced thriller that felt all too real, with the poignant, relevant subject matter of child abduction and exploitation. Despite the overarching oppressive elements of criminality, there are also darkly funny streaks in the main character’s acerbic wit that string together to thoroughly engage the reader and put you right there in the moment with her — terrified for your life, but also wondering if your life has ever been that worthwhile in the grand scheme of things. With unforgettable characters and a riveting story with more than enough meat to lock your jaw into, I can see this being turned into an absolutely amazing film or dramatic series, and I can’t wait to read the follow-up to this novel (or anything else!) by this author.

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