Dammit, Peter Swanson. You've done it again.

A tight twisty psychological thriller from an author who (in my estimation) is becoming a master of the genre. A new Peter Swanson novel is an annual holiday; and I'm prepared to celebrate every year.

The story begins with Harry Ackerson, days away from his college graduation learning that his father has died. Harry travels to his father's home in Maine and learns that his 'accidental' fall may not have been an accident at all. There to console him is his stepmother Alice, a beautiful and sensual middle age woman that Harry has fantasized about on more than one occasion. Alice, however, has a past that she would rather keep hidden. Could her past be connected to the death of Harry's father?