Leave the Girls Behind
the brand-new unflinching thriller that demands to be devoured and discussed
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
We assume we can spot a psychopath from across the room...
Nineteen years ago, Ruth-Anne Baker's childhood friend was murdered by convicted killer, Ethan Oswald. With Oswald dead and the case closed, everybody tells Ruth it's time to move on - but she believes there is more to the story.
And only the wilfully ignorant or easily duped would fall for their charms.
When another young girl goes missing from their small town, Ruth becomes convinced that Oswald had an accomplice, someone the police overlooked.
If no one has told you this yet - it's not quite that simple.
So begins a journey that will draw Ruth across continents and perilously close to three women, each connected to Oswald in a different way. The deeper she delves, the more she suspects one of them knows the truth. About her childhood friend. About the missing girl. And, perhaps most dangerously of all, about Ruth herself...
Blending blisteringly taut suspense with a moving exploration of the ways in which violent crime ricochets through the lives of those left behind, Leave the Girls Behind is a darkly beautiful read that will linger long after you've turned the final page, for fans of Bright Young Women and Notes on an Execution.
Praise for Leave the Girls Behind:
'Hauntingly astute in how crime affects those left behind. Jacqueline Bublitz is firmly on my radar' Prima
'Fresh and inventive, with beautiful writing and captivating characters. I can't wait to see what Jacqueline Bublitz does next' Andrea Mara, Sunday Times bestselling author of All Her Fault
''I couldn't put this down, desperate to unravel the connections between these women and the girls they'd left behind. An original and beautifully told story of resistance and resilience' Emma Styles, award-winning author of No Country for Girls
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Childhood trauma haunts a 26-year-old New Yorker in the disquieting latest from Bublitz (after Before You Knew My Name). Manhattan bartender Ruth-Ann Baker is walking to work in 2015 when an AMBER Alert sends her reeling. Nineteen years ago, Ruth's best friend, seven-year-old Beth Lovely, went missing from a playground in Hoben, Conn.; police eventually found her body in a shallow grave. Now, another seven-year-old has vanished from the same area. In recent years, Ruth became convinced that Ethan Oswald, who was convicted of killing Beth, also murdered three other girls—a theory conceived when the victims' ghosts started visiting her. She stopped investigating after friends, family, and the cops questioned her sanity, but now she vows to do whatever it takes to end the cycle. Though Oswald died in prison, Ruth suspects that an accomplice may have taken up his mantle, given the similarity of the crimes. Bublitz's intricate plot relies too heavily on coincidence, but the present-tense narration imparts urgency and unease, while occasional scenes from a captive child's perspective ratchet up the tension. Despite a few bumps, it's a solid sophomore effort.
