Quick Synopsis – Esme left her hometown 10 years ago to escape her mothers death and pursue a career in ballet. Now, she’s returning home to her dying father and distant brother. On the eve of her return a dead body found literally in her backyard. Esme is thrown into the mystery of who could have killed her high school best friend and were they actually looking for her?

Song This Reminds Me Of – Liar (It Takes One to Know One) by Taking Back Sunday

Publication Date – Dec. 26, 2023

Rating – 2.5 out of 5 ⭐

Review – Y’all, this book was messy. It’s told from two main POVs: Esme and Rita. However, in my opinion, Rita’s POV is completely unnecessary and, if anything, shows the bias people in law enforcement have when dealing with violent crimes.

Esme returns home to a dead body in her childhood home’s backyard, and Rita is the lead detective on the case. Of course, the dead body is Esme’s best friend from high school, Kara, and bears a slight resemblance to Esme. Rita interviews all the main suspects: Ray (the sketchy neighbor with a mentally disabled sister), Esme’s younger brother who had dated Kara a month ago, and other various men throughout the town. Honestly, they all had names I can’t remember because I was so disinterested in this book.

Esme, as a character, is so stuck in a ballet career that ended because of injury, and she left a 6-year relationship to move home. We never hear from her ex-boyfriend, not even a text. Esme literally packed her stuff and left a note. Even if their relationship was failing, the boyfriend didn’t even send an FU text? It was weird. Everything about Esme was so paper-thin. She had no real personality outside of moping.

Rita was like a halfway competent detective, enough to recognize when people were creeps. However, she never puts any stock into female suspects. Granted, most violent crimes against women are because of men. As a veteran cop, you would think that she would at least suspect some of the female characters.

As for the central mystery of the book, I actually thought that it unfolded nicely. I don’t read a lot of mystery novels, and I was intrigued from start to finish with that plotline. I liked the whodunit, and I thought the clues were planted nicely but not obviously. Once you get to a little over 50%, it becomes more clear who probably killed Kara and the motive, but I thought there were a nice little twist or two that made me gasp.

Even though I enjoyed the mystery, this book is going to be a no for me. The characters just weren’t developed enough, and I felt like focusing on a single point of view and fleshing Esme out more would have made a better story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for the ARC!