Terri Parlato
At a glance
Her ballet career derailed by injury, a once-promising young dancer returns to her hometown only to face a grisly discovery – and the increasingly alarming realization that nothing from her past is quite what she believed – in this electrifyingly twisty suburban thriller for fans of Stacy Willingham, Greer Hendricks, and Megan Miranda.
When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.
Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity?
Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.
Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .
"Parlato’s multidimensional characters and effective use of red herrings will keep readers invested right up to the gasp-worthy conclusion."
- Publishers Weekly
"A failed ballerina’s return home is turned upside down by the appearance of a dead body in her family’s yard…Parlato piles on the rumors, menace, and revelations."
- Kirkus Reviews
Sometimes, the only thing you can do is leave. That was my mindset when I was eighteen. There was no thought of staying put and duking it out, fighting to make things better. I didn’t have the slightest inkling of how to do that.
But eleven years later, teetering on the edge of thirty, the world looks a lot different. So I’m going home. The thruway is gray and damp, and my ancient car thumps along at fifty-five; any faster and it makes a noise that drowns out the radio. I’m not in any hurry to get to Graybridge anyway. I’m sort of liking the road between Syracuse and my Boston suburban hometown. I’m alone with my thoughts, boyfriend—ex, actually—in the rearview mirror, my family, or what’s left of it, at the other end of my journey. Here, on the road, I’m in a dreamland of my own.
It’s early. The weak October sun is just rising, and the dying leaves look gray, their brilliant colors hidden in the morning mist. Kevin is still asleep, most likely. He’ll get up in another hour and find my note on the kitchen table; such a cliché, but I couldn’t face him, see that look in his eyes, the folds in his forehead when some- thing unpleasant and out of his control happens. I need all my strength for my brother and dad and whatever else I have waiting for me at home. I have nothing to spend on Kevin. It’s been over for months, although he’s refused to even consider that our...
Sexual abuse, attempted sexual assault (on-page).
