Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie Kitsakis was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. With that job and her brilliant, devoted husband, Sam, she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then it all fell apart. The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help --- even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. His wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach is the primary suspect. As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed --- and that their friends might be protecting troubling secrets of their own.

It all starts with a text: Please, Wylie, I need your help. Wylie hasn’t heard from Cassie in over a week, not since their last fight. But that doesn’t matter. Cassie is in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself. This time it’s different, though. Instead of telling Wylie where she is, Cassie sends cryptic clues. And instead of having Wylie come by herself, Jasper shows up saying Cassie sent him to help. Trusting the guy who sent Cassie off the rails doesn’t feel right, but Wylie has no choice but to ignore her gut instinct and go with him. But figuring out where Cassie is goes from difficult to dangerous, fast.

Kate learns that her daughter, Amelia, has been suspended from school. Upon her arrival, she finds the school surrounded by police officers, fire trucks, and an ambulance. An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating has jumped to her death. At least that’s the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one she forces herself to believe. Until she gets an anonymous text: She didn’t jump.