Jane loses everything when her teenage daughter is killed in a senseless accident. Devastated, she manages to make one tiny stab at a new life: she moves from San Francisco to the seaside town of Half Moon Bay. Jane is inconsolable, and yet, as the months go by, she is able to cobble together some version of a job, of friends, of the possibility of peace. And then, children begin to disappear. And soon, Jane sees her own pain reflected in all the parents in the town. She wonders if she will be able to live through the aching loss, the fear all around her. And as the disappearances continue, she begins to see that what her neighbors are wondering: is it Jane herself who has unleashed the horror of loss?

As an earnest young girl, Anna learned to fit in by hiding her quirks from her parents and friends. But at 16, a sudden depression takes hold of her life, and she loses her sense of self and purpose as well as the will to conform. Then the Bible-touting Goldschmidts and their charismatic son, Lars, move in next door, leaning Anna in awe of both Lars and their violent prophecies for the Tribulation at the End of Days. Yet when her newfound beliefs bear irrevocable consequences, she must persevere with the help of unlikely friends.

When Dr. John Taylor is found dead in a hotel room in his hometown, the local police find enough incriminating evidence to suspect foul play. Detective Samantha Adams is innocently thrown into a high-profile murder case that is more intricately intertwined than she ever could imagine. It turns out that Dr. Taylor was married to three very different women in three separate cities. And when these three unsuspecting ladies show up at his funeral, suspicions run high.

In Alice LaPlante's masterful, haunting debut novel, a former orthopedic surgeon suffering from dementia becomes the primary suspect in the murder of her best friend and neighbor.