Rating: 3 out of 5.

I wanted to like this contemporary mystery/thriller more, but it fell a bit flat for me. I liked the main character, detective Elise King, who is on medical leave as she battles cancer. She spends her day watching tensions rise between the local small town residents and the weekenders that invade the town each weekend. During a musical festival two teenagers suffer a drug overdose and are hospitalized and one well-liked elderly man disappears. Elise discovers his body a couple days later and she finds herself suddenly brought back to work and in charge of the investigation.

I liked Elise’s neighbor Ronnie. She inserted some much needed levity in the story, although once Elise returns to work, Ronnie’s character basically disappears from the story. Elise’s grief over the break-up with an ex-boyfriend, a fellow detective, is brought up a couple times, but it’s never explored and his mysterious disappearance from work shortly after she returns to work makes no sense. It’s a loose end that is never resolved and served no purpose in the story. The addition of new characters mid-way through the story was a bit jarring. The mystery was fairly predictable, although I still enjoyed seeing how the author resolved it all.

I did enjoy seeing Elise’s self-doubt and hesitation slowly disappear the more she threw herself into the investigation. It’s clear that she equates her identity and self-worth with her job, and while some may scoff that a person shouldn’t do that, it’s truly what brings her joy, so to each their own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.