Review by Booklist Review
This psychological thriller is terrifying on so many levels, not the least of which is the reality that we live in a culture that aids and abets the violence, physical and psychological, depicted here. Romano-Lax (author of Annie and the Wolves, a Booklist Top Ten Historical Novel of the Year in 2021) centers her story on Abby Rosso, a newly credentialed high-school guidance counselor. Two of her young women advisees die within days of each other. Police suspicion moves quickly from suicide to homicide. Most chilling of all, Abby suspects her own teenage son, Benjamin, may be the murderer. Abby is a wonderfully developed character, who wrestles with a wretched past and her deep feelings of inadequacy, including living in near-poverty near the wealthy high school her son attends. Nevertheless, she investigates on her own, gaining allies with her cop ex-boyfriend and former college psych professor-turned-therapist, all the while dreading where the investigation might lead. An extra layer of suspense is added in Part II, with alternating chapters given from Abby's and Benjamin's points of view. Nothing can prepare readers for the running-against-the-clock action of the last few chapters, which, in retrospect, Romano-Lax has set up beautifully. A stunner.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An Illinois woman suspects her troubled son of foul play in this unsettling psychological thriller from Romano-Lax (The Deepest Lake). After 17-year-old Sidney Mayfield dies of an apparent suicide in the suburbs of Chicago, her hotheaded father blames high school counselor Abby Rosso for missing the warning signs. Then Sidney's best friend, Izzy Scarlatti, turns up dead in a motel, and the authorities begin to suspect that both girls were murdered. Meanwhile, Abby tries not to worry when she finds women's underwear hidden among the belongings of her lonely teen son, Benjamin. But Benjamin is caught stealing Izzy's diary, and police learn he sent the girl threatening texts before she died. Though Benjamin maintains his innocence, Abby has her doubts, particularly given her brother's psychopathy. Desperate for--and terrified of--the truth, Abby sends Benjamin to a psychologist and launches her own investigation into the girls' deaths. Cartoonish villains and an overcomplicated backstory somewhat diminish the story's impact, but on balance, Romano-Lax delivers a tense, twist-riddled exploration of toxic masculinity, parental insecurity, and generational trauma. It's a thought-provoking suspense tale. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
When two teenage girls from the same tony high school are separately found dead during the same weekend, their school counselor Abby questions whether they could have died by suicide or if a sinister killer is in the community. Complicating matters is that Abby's teenage son Benjamin seems to have known the girls better than she'd realized, and Abby begins to fear that he might have been involved in their deaths. Romano-Lax (The Deepest Lake) will have readers questioning everything as the narrative perspective shifts from Abby's viewpoint to Benjamin's, reveals deeper layers to their family history. Readers learn more about Abby's past and her troubled older brother in prison, whose history makes Abby wonder whether her brother and her son share murderous tendencies. Beyond the central mystery, the novel asks interrogates heredity and how misogyny is taught from a young age. VERDICT Romano-Lax has spun another thriller not to be missed, with twists aplenty and enough questions about psychopathy and toxic masculinity to keep the chattiest of book clubs discussing long past meeting's end.--Carrie Voliva
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A high school counselor suddenly finds herself questioning whether her troubled teenage son was involved in the murder of two female classmates. Abby Rosso always knew her loner son, Benjamin, was different. Then two girls she counseled at the high school--and whom he knew--are found dead, having apparently died by suicide. When she discovers a pair of girls' panties among her son's things, Abby refuses to believe the worst about Benjamin. But a past incident involving her violent, imprisoned brother, Ewan, and another young girl whose panties he kept as a kind of trophy sends her into a panic. Abby has kept Ewan from contacting Benjamin; yet history seems to be repeating itself, nevertheless. In a narrative that moves between Abby and, later, Benjamin, Romano-Lax plunges readers into the depths of a psychological thriller about a woman who, in seeking answers about her son's involvement with the two deaths, is forced to revisit a dark personal chapter involving her brother. Curtis Campbell, a former psychology professor Abby runs into by accident, offers hope when he takes an interest in her situation and accepts Benjamin as a client. But the more Abby gradually learns about Curtis, the more she realizes that a man she thought could help her troubled son is actually an even greater threat to Benjamin than her imprisoned brother. Meticulous characterizations, thoughtful plotting, and unforeseen twists are only part of what make this novel so successful. As it explores the nature of unconditional mother-love and human psychopathy, Romano-Lax's book also offers a chillingly on-point portrait of masculinity at its most toxic and perverse. A propulsive novel that fearlessly probes the darkest corners of human psychopathy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
