Three Strikes
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
When a mysterious young girl arrives in the small New England town of Edgeport, it's up to criminal psychologist Audrey Harte to figure out where exactly she came from . . . but sometimes the past should stay in the past.
Thanksgiving is approaching, and Audrey Harte has a lot to be thankful for -- her mother has recovered from surgery, her relationship with Jake is solid, her father is relatively sober, and her career is evolving in an exciting direction. So when an 18-year-old girl turns up on her mother's doorstep, claiming to be the daughter Maggie Jones gave up for adoption, Audrey is amazed.
As Audrey helps the girl discover where she came from, people in the little town of Edgeport think she should leave the past alone, and they let her know through threatening messages and phone calls. Soon, Audrey realizes that it doesn't matter how well you think you know someone -- you don't know what they're capable of until their secrets are threatened. . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Kessler's sturdy third crime novel featuring juvenile forensic psychologist Audrey Harte (after 2016's Two Can Play), 18-year-old Mackenzie Bell, the daughter of Audrey's childhood best friend, Maggie Jones, arrives in Edgeport, Maine, looking for information about her biological family. Maggie is dead, and Mackenzie's father isn't listed on her birth certificate, so the teen turns to Audrey for help. Maggie hid her pregnancy from Audrey, but Mackenzie's age suggests that she was born while Audrey was incarcerated for murdering Maggie's dad, Clint, who sexually abused Maggie. Audrey assumes that Clint is Mackenzie's father, but some digging reveals that her baby wasn't the only thing that 14-year-old Maggie kept secret. Meanwhile, a thug called Ratchett attempts to blackmail Audrey's boyfriend, Jake Tripp, in connection with a past crime. Kessler relies too heavily on coincidence, but her plot still intrigues, neatly capturing and capitalizing on the complexity of adult sibling relationships and the unique nature of small-town justice.
