This is a very dark thriller that made me want to keep turning the page throughout to find out what happens next while still cringing that I didn’t really want to know what was coming because it was so dark. The opening of the book with the narration from the voices of the dead, the lost, and the forgotten really set the scene for the whole book and made sure that the reader didn’t forget who this book is really about.
Over the decades, young women have disappeared along the Cold Creek Highway, and girls in Cold Creek are repeatedly warned not to be out on it after dark. Hailey McBride knows the history and understands the warning, but she’s an orphan after her father’s sudden death, and she is forced to move in with her aunt and uncle (who is a local police officer who takes advantage of his power over her and the community.) Hailey suddenly disappears and everyone fears that the Cold Creek Killer has struck again. A year later, Beth Chevalier comes to town, searching for answers to her sister Amber’s murder, and finds that she might be the next target. This is an especially haunting book knowing that while these specific murders aren’t based on any true person, the Cold Creek Highway and the decades of missing women, most of them Indigenous women, is sadly true.
I thought the characters were well developed and especially how realistically flawed (and frustrating) they were. I also thought the author did a great job making the reader uncomfortable with what was happening to the characters, which was (unfortunately) appropriate for this story. I don’t necessarily enjoy the creepiness of some of the male characters, nor do I enjoy the anticipation of bad things happening, but for this genre, the author masterfully and appropriately set the scenes and developed the plot to move the story forward.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading a dark, twisted thriller that will stay with you for a while after you’re finished.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.