The Stepson

Psychotherapist Lulu is sure she’s the luckiest woman alive. She has a wonderful job and is married to the love of her life, Nick—who also happens to be ridiculously handsome and fabulously wealthy. But now a shadow has fallen on her perfect life. She can see that Nick is struggling with demons from his past. When he was sixteen, his entire family disappeared without a trace and Nick has always insisted that his stepmother—whom he hated—was to blame, that she did something terrible to his beloved father and baby sister. That trauma has left him feeling that anyone he loves is in danger and might vanish in a heartbeat. So now he is obsessed with Lulu’s safety. He needs to know where she is 24/7, insists she carries a can of pepper spray, and is constantly watching for any potential threats. Lulu can see that this extreme anxiety is wearing Nick down. As a therapist, she knows the only way to heal trauma is to confront it. So she persuades him to return to the country house from which his family vanished. But soon after they arrive in this sleepy rural community, another person disappears. As Lulu is forced to question everything she knows about Nick and his missing family, dark secrets emerge from the past. The certainties of her old life fade away and are replaced by a horror she could never have imagined in her wildest nightmares.