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Emma in the Night
By Wendy Walker
St. Martin’s Griffin, 9781250141422, August 2018, 336pp.

The Short of It:

No one can be trusted.

The Rest of It:

Three years ago the Tanner sisters disappeared without a trace. One day, Cass shows up on her mother’s doorstep, three years older but without her sister, Emma. When the investigators are called in to question her, she urgently pleads for them to find Emma, who is hopefully still on the island she just escaped from.

The investigators don’t fully believe the story Cass is telling them. Something is off. To complicate things, Cass and Emma’s mother is narcissistic and continues to turn the attention back to herself anytime Cass or Emma is in the spotlight. One of the investigators, Dr. Winter, is very familiar with this disorder since she dealt with it in her own childhood so she watches them all carefully to see if she can decipher what really happened to Emma and Cass.

Emma in the Night is super twisty and delves into some much deeper issues than you might expect. This family is beyond dysfunctional and no one can be trusted which makes for good reading. Until the final pages, I had an idea of what happened to them but nothing solid and I was somewhat off when it was finally revealed.

This is a smart, highly detailed story about a seriously messed-up family. It’s gritty and some parts will leave you cringing. Some of the story lines could be triggering as well so be warned. Overall, I’d recommend it.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Last Flight
By Julie Clark
Sourcebooks Landmark, 9781728215723, June 2020, 320pp.

The Short of It:

This is the “it” book making the rounds this summer and it’s quite the page-turner.

The Rest of It:

On the outside, Claire Cook has it all. A beautiful home with gleaming appliances, people who are literally at her beck and call whenever she needs them, her work for the foundation is rewarding and satisfying but her marriage to Rory is a constant reminder that things are not golden in the Cook household.

Rory Cook, an up-and-coming political figure comes from a well-known family and expects Claire to behave and act a certain way. If she doesn’t respond appropriately in public then as soon as he has her behind closed doors, he makes it clear to her that whatever she’s done must never be done again.

After fearing for her safety one too many times, she comes up with a plan. On an upcoming business trip, she plans to disappear and never come back. New identifying documents have been purchased and the morning of her plan, she is energized with renewed hope. Until she is forced to change her plans.

When her careful plan to escape is ruined by Rory, she does the next best thing by switching airline tickets with a stranger. She’ll head to Oakland, California and Eva, the woman she meets at the airport will head to Puerto Rico as Claire. This will buy her a little time.

What Claire doesn’t plan on is Eva’s plane crashing into the ocean shortly after takeoff. Could it be a blessing that Claire is considered among the dead?

This is a tightly wound story told through alternating points of view, Claire’s and Eva’s and it held my attention until I turned that last page. It reads like a movie script. There is just the right amount of intrigue and all of the supporting characters all have a role.

My only complaint, is that I really expected some of the story to be set in Puerto Rico. I was looking forward to spending a little time there but since the plane crashes (not a spoiler) before getting there, no time is spent there at all. So you won’t get a vacation-like setting in this one but you could easily read this one on a beach in one sitting.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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