The Less Dead
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
In this "thought-provoking" thriller from the author of the Reese Witherspoon book club pick and national bestseller Conviction, a woman in crisis finds herself on the hunt for her own mother's murderer (People).
Dr. Margo Dunlop is at a crossroads. Her adoptive mom just passed away, and Margo misses her so much she can't begin to empty the house-or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant, and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large—and sending Nikki threatening letters.
Margo is torn. Should she stay out of this mess, or try to find justice? But then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother . . .
Darkly funny and deeply affecting, The Less Dead is a sharply modern new thriller from the bestselling author of Conviction, and a surprisingly moving story of daughters and mothers, secrets and choices, and how the search for the truth—and a long-hidden killer—will lead one woman to find herself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this disappointing psychological thriller set in Glasgow from Edgar finalist Mina (Conviction), physician Margo Dunlop discovers undelivered letters in her late mother's belongings that lead her to Nikki, the sister of Margo's previously unknown birth mother, Susan, and the information that Susan's murder soon after Margo's birth, while Susan and Nikki were both working as prostitutes, remains unsolved. Margo, terrified after getting a threatening letter from a person claiming to be Susan's killer that's similar to ones Nikki has received for years, is drawn into Nikki's world as she seeks answers, while also dealing with her best friend, Lilah, and Lilah's increasingly abusive boyfriend, and considering whether to tell her own ex-boyfriend that she's pregnant. Mina skips most of the everyday details of Margo's career, using her identity as a doctor only as a vague plot device, and leans too heavily into the sordid details of life on the streets. A new violent death trails away without ongoing impact. This garish story offers shock without substance under the thinnest guise of compassion.
