My first novel from this author and I have to say, I really liked the story. The premise was intriguing and the characters were interesting enough. It really made me ask myself; How far would you go to keep a secret. How bad can you be? A story of betrayal and friendship. One hell of a ride. It was simple, yet captivating.

Three young women from a small Midwest town are forced to face the secrets from their pasts when one confronts her own mortality — and decides she doesn’t want to leave the world all alone.

Twenty years before, Marlene, Valarie and Hope each held separate pieces of the puzzle in the disappearance of a high-school classmate before going their own ways — and trying to leave the past behind where they thought it belonged, in a shallow farmland grave. Valarie and Hope stayed in Hillsboro, at drastically different ends of the town’s unforgiving social spectrum, while Marlene turned tail for the big city and turned her teenage pain into a bestselling novel.

But now, all three troubled young women will have to come together, again, in Hillsboro. They’ll have to compare notes, however reluctant they are to start. They’ll have to confront their darkest assumptions. And they’ll have to construct shaky bridges of trust to one another across the town’s cruel and calcified class divides.

And Marlene, Valarie and Hope will have to come to grips with their ghastly secrets against death’s ticking clock. Against their own fearful and selfish desires. Against a police chief who’s getting too close to the explosive truth. Against an old woman who would protect the pride of her family’s past at almost any price. And against others in Hillsboro who would do anything — including adding to the body count — to protect their own dark and deadly interests.

Reviewing before finishing to note there are numerous typos throughout so far, and even a completely wrong character name used in chapter 15! So far it is a gripping story and I am enjoying it in spite of the typos.