Great writing. Excellent story-telling. Characters that captured my heart.

This novel was a welcome change from a lot of books I’ve read recently. I’m tired of reading about characters who are drunks and/or totally screwed up psychologically. Hannah is a strong intelligent woman who loves her husband and stepdaughter. When husband Owen goes missing she wants to find him and to know why he left, not only for herself but for step-daughter Bailey. Bailey is a believable teenager. The contentious but growing relationship between them is a big part of the story. I liked all the characters including Owen who doesn’t actually appear in the story. But we know him from Hannah and Bailey’s hearts.

The story is unusual and the ending unexpected. It was a pleasure to read a story without lots of gratuitous violence. Hannah follows the threads of Owen’s life to find out who he is and where he came from.

Some reviewers mentioned bad editing. As an editor, I sometimes get turned off by a book with questionable editing. But I was so involved in the story that I didn’t notice any errors if they were there.

I will look for more books by Laura Dave.