GUILTY by Laura Elliot is a highly suspenseful novel featuring a cast of carefully limned characters and a tightly woven plot.

Thirteen-year-old Constance Lawson is reported missing by her parents. Not a sign of her appears despite meticulous searching by the police and townspeople. But her uncle, Karl Lawson, is targeted by journalist Amanda Bowe, who points her pen toward him and makes sure that everyone believes he is the prime suspect. She destroys him, and he winds up in jail. He always has maintained his innocence, yet no one believes him. He remains in prison until a townsman leaves a suicide note pointing to where he buried Constance’s body.

"The police, the people involved in the children’s disappearances, and the families float in a flotilla of red herrings meant to tease readers and keep them on their toes. The level of suspense is kept high throughout GUILTY..."

As the narrative unfolds, readers learn that Karl has a record. He was arrested for the severe beating and rape of his then-girlfriend, Selina. Although he claimed he was not guilty of that crime, too, he was sent to prison. He never told anyone about this incident, and both his wife Nicole and brother Justin are outraged when they hear the news. “It wasn’t the police who exonerated me. It was Selina,” he tells them. Justin loses his temper and punches Karl in the face. Justin’s wife, Jenna, pulls them apart and sinks to her knees beside Karl, begging him to help the parents find their daughter.

At the present time, Karl is sent to prison until that suicide note exonerates him. But when he is let out of jail, his life is ruined. His family is completely broken apart, he loses his job as an editor, and he is still under suspicion for the disappearance of his niece. Karl ends up losing everything he ever had and makes a life on the street. He percolates with all of the wrongs done to him and pulls off a horrendous crime against his nemesis, Amanda Bowe.

Karl kidnaps Amanda’s four-year-old son, Marcus, and keeps him in a state of fantasy in the place he created out of his imaginary “plinks,” children’s characters that he invented. But he is cheated by Lar Richardson, Amanda’s husband and mogul of a huge media conglomerate. Lar buys the rights to the plinks and all of the manufacturing interests, which make millions of dollars for him and nothing for Karl, who renames himself Ben Carroll.

The police, the people involved in the children’s disappearances, and the families float in a flotilla of red herrings meant to tease readers and keep them on their toes. The level of suspense is kept high throughout GUILTY, and those who enjoy stories that just can’t be put down will love this psychological thriller.