Hiding her own dark past in plain sight, a TV reporter is determined to uncover the truth behind a gruesome murder decades after the investigation was abandoned. But TWENTY YEARS LATER, to understand the present, you need to listen to the past…

“Excellent…Donlea tells a propulsive tale.” —The New York Times

NOW A DELUXE PAPERBACK with stenciled edges for fans of Alex Michaelides, Shari Lapena, and Riley Sager.**

Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows how to grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. And there’s a twist . . .

The victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister Emma, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence. By now, Emma has waited twenty years to clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help . . .

Avery, aiming for a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA. But Victoria’s private life belies a much darker mystery. And Avery doesn’t realize there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—a secret she thought was dead and buried . . .