Synopses & Reviews
The Girl on the Train meets
The Silent Wife in this taut psychological thriller.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU VANISH FROM YOUR LIFE AND LEAVE NO STORY BEHIND?
SOMEONE WILL MAKE ONE UP FOR YOU.
Clare is on the run.
From her past, from her husband, and from her own secrets. When she turns up alone in the remote mining town of Blackmore asking about Shayna Fowles, the local girl who disappeared, everyone wants to know who Clare really is and what shes hiding. As it turns out, shes hiding a lot, including what ties her to Shayna in the first place. But everyone in this place is hiding something—from Jared, Shaynas secretive ex-husband, to Charlie, the charming small-town drug pusher, to Derek, Shaynas overly involved family doctor, to Louise and Wilfred, her distraught parents.
Did Shayna flee? Was she killed? Is it possible shes still alive?
As Clare uncovers the mysteries around Shaynas disappearance, she must confront her own demons, moving us deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of lies and making us question what it is shes really running from. Twisting and electrifying, this is a get-under-your-skin thriller that will make you question what it means to lose yourself and find yourself in the most unlikely places.
Synopsis
Top of the Lake meets
The Silent Wife in this taut domestic thriller.
When Clare O’Dey turns up alone and unannounced in the remote mountain mining town of Blackmore, its residents have little reason to connect her arrival to the recent disappearance of local drug addict Shayna Fowles. Already well versed in hiding the details of her own past, Clare plays the part of an amateur travel photographer in search of landscape. In truth, she has been sent to Blackmore by Malcolm Boon, to search for a woman she’s never met. With Malcolm looking over her shoulder from the sidelines, Clare’s instincts are drawn from her own flight from an abusive marriage she felt certain would end in her death.
Clare confronts a town devastated by the closing of its coalmine, the influx of drugs that followed, and riven by the bad blood between Shayna’s friends, neighbours, and family. Despite it all, she fits in to Blackmore almost too well, befriending Shayna’s mother, charming her ex-husband, and embroiling herself in the same destructive world that spelled disaster for Shayna. Just as she seems to find her footing, the past she thought she had diverted returns, and a whole new level of torment rushes in.
About the Author
Amy Stuart won the 2011 Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers, and was a finalist for the 2012 Vanderbilt/Exile Award. She recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing through UBC under the mentorship of Lisa Moore. Amy lives in Toronto with her husband and their three young sons.