Un maestro moderno del suspense, el aclamado autor Charlie Donlea regresa con una novela tensa y apasionante sobre los secretos mortales que se esconden a simple vista... La verdad es fácil de perder, incluso cuando está justo delante de nosotros. Como reconstrucionista forense, Rory Moore arroja luz sobre los homicidios en casos fríos al unir detalles de la escena del crimen que otros no ven. Limpiando el despacho de abogados de su difunto padre una semana después de su entierro, recibe una llamada que la sumerge en un caso de décadas de antigüedad que cobra vida una vez más. En el verano de 1979, cinco mujeres de Chicago desaparecieron. El depredador, apodado El Ladrón, no dejó cuerpos ni pistas, hasta que la policía recibió un paquete de una misteriosa mujer llamada Angela Mitchell, cuyas habilidades poco ortodoxas de investigación parecen haber llevado a su identidad. Pero antes de que pudieran interrogarla, Angela desapareció. Cuarenta años después, El ladrón está a punto de ser puesto en libertad condicional por el asesinato de Angela, el único crimen que el fiscal podría achacarle. Pero el críptico archivo que Rory encuentra en la oficina legal de su padre sugiere que hay más en el caso, y Angela Mitchell, que lo que fue alimentado al público, los detalles de los cuales han sido enterrados durante cuatro décadas. Los talentos de Rory se prueban cuando comienza a reconstruir los últimos días de Angela. Haciendo un descubrimiento sorprendente tras otro, Rory se enreda impotentemente en el enigma de Angela Mitchell y lo que le sucedió. Dibujando conexiones entre el pasado y el presente, Rory descubre verdades oscuras sobre la víctima reclusa, su padre y el hombre llamado El Ladrón que la envían por un sendero tortuoso donde las cosas pueden no ser como aparecen. A medida que sigue cavando, incluso Rory no puede estar preparado para la verdad completa y aterradora que está surgiendo...
In this gripping new thriller from #1 international bestselling author Charlie Donlea, a TV news host sets out to uncover the truth behind a brutal, decadesold murder ... Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience's attention. Her latest story-a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal-is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner's office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence. Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won't be complete until she can clear Victoria's name. Alone she's had no luck, but she's convinced that Avery's connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria's DNA. But the twisted puzzle of Victoria's private life belies a much darker mystery. And what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery's own secret past-one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried ...
Ella no recuerda nada. Mejor así. Su verdad era solo la mitad de la historia. Megan McDonald está terminando el bachillerato, es popular, carismática, y tiene un futuro increíble por delante. Una de sus últimas noches en Emerson Bay la secuestran. Megan está dos semanas en cautiverio hasta que escapa, y pasa a ser conocida como "la chica que se llevaron". Pero esa noche también desapareció Nicole Cutty y de ella nadie sabe nada. Megan escribe su libro, que se convierte en un bestseller, pero ella no está bien, recuerda muy poco de lo que ocurrió y necesita saberlo. Livia, médica forense, es la hermana mayor de Nicole. Todavía se siente culpable por no haber contestado el teléfono cuando Nicole la llamó la noche en que desapareció. Megan y Livia deciden investigar qué pasó con Nicole. Cuanto más profundizan se dan cuenta de que el verdadero terror reside en encontrar exactamente lo que estabas buscando.
A chilling murder in a prestigious prep school is at the heart of this riveting new novel from acclaimed author Charlie Donlea, featuring forensic reconstructionist Rory Moore and her psychologist partner, Lane Phillips. Inside the walls of Indiana's elite Westmont Preparatory High School, expectations run high and rules are strictly enforced. But in the woods beyond the manicured campus and playing fields sits an abandoned boarding house that is infamous among Westmont's students as a late-night hangout. Here, only one rule applies: don't let your candle go out-unless you want the Man in the Mirror to find you. . . . One year ago, two students were killed there in a grisly slaughter. The case has since become the focus of a hit podcast, The Suicide House. Though a teacher was convicted of the murders, mysteries and questions remain. The most urgent among them is why so many students who survived that horrific night have returned to the boarding house-to kill themselves. Rory, an expert in reconstructing cold cases, is working on The Suicide House podcast with Lane, recreating the night of the killings in order to find answers that have eluded the school, the town, and the police. But the more they learn about the troubled students, the chillingly stoic culprit, and a dangerous game gone tragically wrong, the more convinced they become that something sinister is still happening. Inside Westmont Prep, the game hasn't ended. It thrives on secrecy and silence. And for its players, there may be no way to win-or to survive. . . .
A modern master of suspense, critically acclaimed author Charlie Donlea returns with a taut, gripping novel about the deadly secrets hiding in plain sight . . . The truth is easy to miss, even when it's right in front of us. As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together crime scene details others fail to see. Cleaning out her late father's law office a week after his burial, she receives a call that plunges her into a decades-old case come to life once more. In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left no bodies and no clues behind-until police received a package from a mysterious woman named Angela Mitchell, whose unorthodox investigation skills appear to have led to his identity. But before they could question her, Angela disappeared. Forty years later, The Thief is about to be paroled for Angela's murder-the only crime the DA could pin on him. But the cryptic file Rory finds in her father's law office suggests there is more to the case, and Angela Mitchell, than what was fed to the public, the details of which have been buried for four decades. Rory's talents are tested as she begins reconstructing Angela's last days. Making one startling discovery after another, Rory becomes helplessly entangled in the enigma of Angela Mitchell and what happened to her. Drawing connections between the past and present, Rory uncovers dark truths about the reclusive victim, her father, and the man called The Thief that send her down a twisting trail where things may not be as they appear. As she continues to dig, even Rory can't be prepared for the full, terrifying truth that is emerging . . .
The Girl of Sugar Beach is the most watched documentary in television history-a riveting, true-life mystery that unfolds over 12 weeks and centers on a fascinating question: Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a Spring Break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work? Grace has spent the last ten years in a St. Lucian prison, and reaches out to filmmaker Sidney Ryan in a last, desperate attempt to prove her innocence. As Sidney begins researching, she uncovers startling evidence, additional suspects, and timeline issues that were all overlooked during the original investigation. Before the series even finishes filming, public outcry leads officials to reopen the case. But as the show surges towards its final episodes, Sidney receives a letter saying that she got it badly, terribly wrong. Sidney has just convinced the world that Grace is innocent. Now she wonders if she has helped to free a ruthless killer. Delving into Grace's past, she peels away layer after layer of deception. But as Sidney edges closer to the real heart of the story, she must decide if finding the truth is worth risking her newfound fame, her career...even her life.
From acclaimed author Charlie Donlea comes a twisting, impossible-to-put-down novel of suspense in which a filmmaker helps clear a woman convicted of murder-only to find she may be a pawn in a sinister game. The Girl of Sugar Beach is the most watched documentary in television history-a riveting, true-life mystery that unfolds over twelve weeks and centers on a fascinating question: Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a Spring Break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work? Grace has spent the last ten years in a St. Lucian prison, and reaches out to filmmaker Sidney Ryan in a last, desperate attempt to prove her innocence. As Sidney begins researching, she uncovers startling evidence, additional suspects, and timeline issues that were all overlooked during the original investigation. Before the series even finishes filming, public outcry leads officials to reopen the case. But as the show surges towards its final episodes, Sidney receives a letter saying that she got it badly, terribly wrong. Sidney has just convinced the world that Grace is innocent. Now she wonders if she has helped to free a ruthless killer. Delving into Grace's past, she peels away layer after layer of deception. But as Sidney edges closer to the real heart of the story, she must decide if finding the truth is worth risking her newfound fame, her career.even her life.
Charlie Donlea, one of the most original new voices in suspense, returns with a haunting novel, laden with twists and high tension, about two abducted girls-one who returns, one who doesn't-and the forensics expert searching for answers. Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are both high school seniors in the small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. When they disappear from a beach party one warm summer night, police launch a massive search. No clues are found, and hope is almost lost until Megan miraculously surfaces after escaping from a bunker deep in the woods. A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has turned Megan from local hero to national celebrity. It's a triumphant, inspiring story, except for one inconvenient detail: Nicole is still missing. Nicole's older sister Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole's body will be found, and it will be up to someone like Livia to analyze the evidence and finally determine her sister's fate. Instead, the first clue to Nicole's disappearance comes from another body that shows up in Livia's morgue-that of a young man connected to Nicole's past. Livia reaches out to Megan for help, hoping to learn more about the night the two were taken. Other girls have gone missing too, and Livia is increasingly certain the cases are connected. But Megan knows more than she revealed in her blockbuster book. Flashes of memory are coming together, pointing to something darker and more monstrous than her chilling memoir describes. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you've been looking for.
Some places seem too beautiful to be touched by horror. Summit Lake, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is that kind of place, with charming stilt houses dotted along the pristine water. But two weeks ago, Becca Eckersley, a first-year law student, was brutally murdered in one of those houses. The daughter of a powerful attorney, Becca was hard-working, accomplished, and ambitious. Now, while the town reels with grief and shocked residents gather to share their theories, the police are baffled.
At first, investigative reporter Kelsey Castle thinks of the assignment as a fluff piece. But the savagery of the crime, and the determined efforts to keep the case quiet, all hint at something far more than a random attack by a stranger. As Kelsey digs deeper, pushing on despite danger and warnings, she feels a growing connection to the dead girl. And the more she learns about Becca's friendships, her love life-and the secrets she was keeping-the more convinced she becomes that learning the truth about Becca could be the key to overcoming her own dark past....
