Synopses & Reviews
Is it true what they say? That we’re only as sick as our worst secret? Because Helen Patrice has one. Last night, she murdered a stranger… Helen is a recovering alcoholic struggling through a twelve-step program. Now it’s time to make amends for a crime she got away with—a hit and run accident that killed the wife of school teacher Edgar Woolrich. It’s time to face the consequences. When she finally gathers the courage to meet him, the ninth step begins with a lie—the first of many as their relationship grows, and Helen knows it’s far too late to reveal the truth to a man she’s come to love. Then one day, she receives an anonymous note: Does he know you killed his wife?
Now her devastating trail of deceit is about to lead her into the darkest place so far—that of other people’s secrets…
Review
Verdict: No one in this novel is as they appear to be, and the twists and turns never let up until the very last page. This dark, chilling debut, which has been optioned for film by screenwriter Nicholas Kazan (
Reversal of Fortune) is a real page-turner and should especially appeal to legal thriller fans.
-Starred Review, Library Journal, Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL
Review
Praise for Grant Jerkins
“[Jerkins is] determined to peer into the darkness and tell us exactly what he sees.” —The Washington Post
“Jerkins’s stylish prose and rich characters set him apart.”—Ridley Pearson
“Masterfully Hitchcockian…Brilliant and brutal…Endlessly fascinating.” —Savannah Morning News
“[A] stylish...thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
From the critically acclaimed author of A Very Simple Crime, a chilling story of a young boy coming to grips with genuine evil.
A red dirt road on a sweltering day. A car loses control, flips through the air. A woman crawls out, bloody and battered, staggers toward the boy on the bike, the one she swerved to avoid. But he runs away...
Kyle is ten in the summer of 1976, and his world is all about secrets-secrets hidden in the maze of cornfields, in caves, in the embers of scorched earth, behind creaking doors and down basement stairs...and in the darkest of hearts.
But there's a policewoman at the front door. The Paralyzed Man watches him from a neighboring porch. And no matter which way Kyle turns, no place seems safe anymore...
Synopsis
A twisting debut novel of murder and dark family secrets from a riveting new voice in crime fiction. A murdered woman. A grieving husband. And their son-a mentally handicapped adult with a history of violent outbursts. A very simple case. Or is it?
Leo Hewitt, an Assistant DA once blamed for setting free a notorious child-killer, is eager to redeem himself with this intimate and grisly crime. As he digs below the surface he discovers more than he ever anticipated-including an emotionally disturbed wife, a husband who'd do anything to escape his disastrous marriage, and an accused young man with no apparent means of defense. But with each shocking new revelation, Leo is only led deeper and deeper into the darkness-an inescapable trap of blood bonds and twisted family secrets.
About the Author
Grant Jerkins is the critically acclaimed author of A Very Simple Crime and has worked for ten years advocating for adults with developmental disabilities. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.