Synopsis

She left the NYPD in the firestorm of a high-profile case gone horribly wrong. Three years later, the ghosts of her past roar back to terrifying life.

When NYPD undercover cop Laney Bird’s cover is blown in a racketeering case against the Russian mob, she flees the city with her troubled son, Alfie. Now, three years later, she’s found the perfect haven in Sylvan, a charming town in upstate New York. But then the unthinkable happens: her boy vanishes.

Local law enforcement dismisses the thirteen-year-old as a runaway, but Laney knows better. Alfie would never abandon his special routines and the sanctuary of their home. Could he have been kidnapped–or worse? As a February snowstorm rips through the region, Laney is forced to launch her own investigation, using every trick she learned in her years undercover.

As she digs deeper into the disappearance, Laney learns that Alfie and a friend had been meeting with an older man who himself vanished, but not before leaving a corpse in his garage. With dawning horror, Laney discovers that the man was a confidential informant from a high-profile case she had handled in the past. Although he had never known her real identity, he knows it now. Which means several other enemies do, too. Time is running out, and as Laney’s search for her son grows more desperate, everything depends on how good a detective she really is–badge or no..

CrimeReads Notable Debut 2021

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalist

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Review

I always enjoy a psychological thriller, but I’m not sure what that says about me! In this new series, Laney and her son move to a small town in NY to escape her involvement in undercover work in NYC, trying to bust some drug dealers. There are other issues, too, including her husband leaving her because he doesn’t want to take care of their child anymore. We see that Alfie has some issues, but it is sad to see a parent decide they don’t want to parent anymore. So Laney does what she thinks is best to raise Alfie in a safe environment. However, what town is truly safe, especially when it comes to teenagers? When Alfie disappears, Laney goes off the deep end and decides that no one can do as good of a job finding him as she can. While there is some truth to her words, I felt she was somewhat manic when speaking to people and tracking down clues. Granted, she gets the job done, but at what cost?

The story does flip back and forth in time so that we can understand what she was doing as an undercover cop and what impact that has on the present day’s incidents. You might get an inkling about her partner and that perhaps he isn’t who he appears to be.

We also meet Laney’s best friend, perhaps only friend, Holly. I think Holly gets involved for the adventure until that backfires on her, but sometimes you do need to shake up your life. I liked that Holly wasn’t afraid to jump into situations and at least be there to support Laney.

I thought that Laney should have been more accepting of the police helping her find Alfie. Sometimes small-town police don’t take everything seriously, but I think one officer did despite her impetuous actions. But her actions might have caused more problems despite the results she achieved.

While I had a feeling where this book was going, it still kept me engaged, and the ending sets up the next book or at least a portion of it. That book is next on my list to read, so look for a review in a few days.

Overall, a suspenseful book, and we give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

Emilya Naymark is the author of the novels Hide in Place and Behind the Lie.

Her short stories appear in A Stranger Comes to Town, edited by Michael Koryta, Secrets in the Water, After Midnight: Tales from the Graveyard Shift, River River Journal, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017, and 1+30: THE BEST OF MYSTORY.

When not writing, Emilya works as a visual artist and reads massive quantities of psychological thrillers, suspense, and crime fiction. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.

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