Loreth Anne White

This book hooked me from the first page! I’m a sucker for an unreliable narrator when done well, and whoa, White knocked the trope out of the park. I was second-guessing every little detail, constantly wondering who was hiding what. Just when I’d think, “Okay, now I’ve got it,” the story would shift, making me question everything all over again.

I loved how much attention the author gave to the secondary characters. They felt like more than just background noise; they had lives, show more layers, and their own secrets.

The pacing was also spot on. It had enough tension to keep things moving without leaving me completely breathless. I’d get a little break here and there, just enough to catch up before the next twist rolled in. The whole book had this perfectly tense vibe, and it pulled me in like I was right there in the middle of everything.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author! show less

Some steamy sex is interrupted when two people, parked under a bridge at a constructions site, witness something heavy being tossed into the murky lake water below (Hah! I thought the steamy sex might get your attention!). A car goes into the drink soon after.

Kit Darling (née Katerina Popovich) our heroine, cleans houses for a living, snoops into her client’s personal lives for her entertainment while working, and is part of an amateur theater group in her spare time – a women of many show more talents, who knows how to put together a great show.

Kit grew up in a ski resort town on the have-not side of the tracks. Her parents were immigrants, and for their livelihood, her mother cleaned houses and her father worked at the local sewage plant. At school the kids taunted Katarina and called her Katarina Poop-ovich, yet, despite her circumstances she was bright, and her immigrant parents expected great things from her. A particularly violent and cruel act on the part of her schoolmates (that was the understatement of the century) resulted in a major rift with her parents and her dropping out of High School - both events effectively quashing all her dreams for the future.

Imagine Kit’s surprise when she discovers, quite by chance, that her newest client turns out to be none other than the bane of her youth, the popular Jon Rittenberg, who went on from High School to become an Olympic Gold Medalist. He is now married to Daisy Rittenberg (née Wentworth) the daughter of wealthy and influential Labden and Annabelle Wentworth, and is next in line for a top promotion in the resort empire founded by his father-in-law.

The timeline moves back and forth over a period of several weeks beginning with an elderly neighbor’s call to 911. The palliative Beulah Brown’s call reports a possible crime committed in the house across the street. She tells the police that the pert, young cleaner who waves up to her whenever she shows up for work, never left the residence at the end of the day. She claims that she woke to hear a scream and then witnessed two people leaving the house, carrying a heavy rolled up rug into a BMW and then one person driving away in the BMW, followed by the second person driving off in the cleaner’s Subaru. The cleaner (Kit) was never seen again.

In the meantime, a very pregnant Daisy is anonymously being tormented for an evil act she committed in the past, an act that she has kept hidden for over a decade. Her husband, at the same time, has just been informed that the expected promotion is not in the bag and that there is a younger, talented contender in the race. The competition and his nature, brings him to act self-destructively, including failing to keep his pants zipped up (Hah! More titillation. Are you still with me?).

Kit has taken to keeping a diary for what she considers therapeutic purposes. In her diary she writes, among other things, about her experiences snooping in the Rittenberg house while cleaning.

Clang, clang! Bells are starting to ring all over the place. I can’t do justice to this plot which gets more and more delectable, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone reading this. All of the characters (including BF, police detectives, and neighbor) are pitch perfect. Suffice it to say that the pages flipped feverishly as I raced to the finish line.

Loreth Anne White is a brilliant author. I read her book, In The Dark, three years ago on GR Friend Dita’s recommendation (oh, Dita, I still miss you so), and I have been intending to read another ever since. When I saw this on NetGalley, I leapt at the opportunity.

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for my copy in exchange for my unbiased review. I loved this book and I love this author!

For KU Subscribers, this book is currently available with audible – nab it while you can! show less

This book is a crazy whodunit with some very despicable characters. Even the main protagonist, Kat, who was the victim of a horrific crime, is not all good. The author tells the story by alternating excerpts from Kat’s diary with chapters following Detective Mallory (Mal) Van Alst as she investigates the murder scene. However, nothing is as it seems. The plot was tight, and there’s quite a bit of action, some of it fairly violent. If you can get past that part, it’s a fascinating read show more with a surprising end that brings everything to a satisfying end. show less

Dang. How'd I sleep on this one for so long? Well, I know that answer - my eyes have been acting up again - but, thank goodness for accompanying audio. I NEED to read more books by this author ASAP. The tension is perfect, the story engaging, and it's the kind of book where you kinda-sorta-but not really have got it all figured out before finishing because you're thinking so hard about it as you read, only to still have things take you by surprise by the end.